Nightwalker
by StarlightSkye
Summary: In which Maka acts as vampire bait for her first mission and accidentally finds herself adopted by the so-called Evans brothers. SoMa. AU.
1. Chapter 1

It was her turn to be the vampire bait.

For the very first time, sixteen-year-old Maka Albarn had drawn the short end of the stick and was given the resentful task of luring in the vampires. She'd wanted to groan, complain, and switch her way out of it, but it wasn't any use. None of her teammates were insane enough to take _attracting_ the bloodsuckers over _staking_ them.

Seeing as she wouldn't have switched either, Maka had no choice but to swallow her complaints.

"You look like you're having fun," her best friend, Liz, said from behind her, tongue in cheek. She was sitting on the edge of Maka's bed as the tiny blonde got ready for the stakeout, looking both proud and excited. Luckily her job only required her to be able to blend into the shadows. All Liz had to do was slip on some dark clothes and throw her light brown locks into a ponytail.

Unlike Maka. Clipping a final diamond barrette into her ashy blond hair, she said, "If I'm being used as bait, I might as well have fun dressing up, right?"

"That's my girl," Liz approved. "You look like a true whore. Very well done."

Maka flicked a makeup brush at her friend, but she couldn't help the beam of excitement from shining through. "It's not like I can be good vamp bait in jeans and a T-shirt," she said pointedly.

"Hey, don't diss jeans! Jeans are awesome." Liz gestured to her own denim-clad legs for emphasis. "Besides, you lured your own boyfriend in these, so don't complain."

Cringing, Maka suddenly bore the weight of the only thing that could crush her pre-mission buzz. Her boyfriend was already against the idea of her being the decoy for this mission, but there wasn't anyone else more equipped for the job. Liz was still bearing _visible_ wounds from her last mission, meaning couldn't pull off the skin-baring outfit required to be bait. And none of the guys could—nor _would_, nor _should ever_—do it.

Still... Seeing Maka dress up like a first class prostitute? Not exactly a point in her favor.

"Kid is going to hate me even more for this."

Liz snorted. "Are you kidding? Kid won't be able to keep his hands off you in that outfit. He's just going to have to remember that he can't touch you until the vampire does." She winked at her companion conspiratorially, and Maka narrowed her big green eyes.

"You're enjoying this," she accused.

"Who, me?" Liz's voice was innocent but her twinkling eyes gave her away.

"You know, you should be thanking me," Maka said conversationally, turning to raise her eyebrows at her friend. "I play bait so you can go back to your mysterious boyfriend, who _I have yet to meet,_ without being tainted by vampire touches. Does that earn me a favor?"

The brunette hid a smile at Maka's not-so-discreet prod for information. "I told you: he's just some guy I've known my whole life. It's nothing serious."

"But it's weird that I've never met him before!" she persisted. "You don't even want me to meet him so I can help you judge every little thing he does? I've always wanted to play the overprotective father type." Maka paused. "Maybe I can give him a lecture about sex to make it as awkward as possible."

Liz laughed out loud. "And I would love you forever if you did. But tonight isn't about me and my secret love life or even you and your challenged romance—it's about you and your escapades as bait!"

"Wow, Liz. You're making this sound so much better."

Pursing her lips, Maka studied her short skirt and lacy, half-sleeved, navy blue corset again and tried to see more than an escort. The outfit—if it could even pass as that—hugged her petite frame complementally, but it showed off more than a decent amount of skin while masking the scars on her back she couldn't hide. In all honesty, she wasn't even sure if her teachers would approve, and the Gorgon Academy instructors were known for praising _anything_ that brought in dead vampires.

"Maybe I should change."

"Oh, come on, Maka," she exclaimed. "I was just kidding! You look gorgeous. Besides, the boys are already waiting for us in Pearl." Pearl was what Liz had bizarrely named their black vehicle. The boys did not approve but what could they do, tape her mouth shut? If that had been an option with Elizabeth Thompson, many people would have done that a long time ago.

Maka forced a smile. "I'm ready."

"You don't have to be nervous, babe."

"I'm not nervous."

Liz grinned slightly. "We're going to have to work on your lying skills before we get to the bar because that was terrible."

Grimacing, she said, "Sorry."

"Don't be." Liz brushed the blonde's hair back, just like an older sister would do to a younger sibling. "I was nervous on my first hunt too. What?" she said indignantly at Maka's snort. "I _was_. But just remember that whatever you do has to be for the mission and we'll have your back no matter what, okay?" She straightened abruptly, officially ending the surprising pep talk. "Come on; let's go before the guys decide to leave without us."

"As if they can. That's like going fishing without worms."

"You think Kid and Harvar aren't hot enough to turn a few straight vampires on their own?" Liz raised her eyebrows in mock-surprise.

Maka laughed. "I think Kid can kick ass better than anyone and knows how to kiss me breathless, but he would _never_ sit still and let a vampire touch him."

Truest statement ever. If there was one thing about Kyle Kidman that made him one of the best Hunters in their school—in the _world_, even—it was the fact that he despised all of them enough to kill them on sight. He was ruthless with his hunt.

Revenge, however looked down upon by Hollywood, was a really great motivational tool.

Maka stared at her reflection in the mirror for a moment longer, studying the girl who looked like any other sixteen-year-old... but wasn't. Long blond hair, large seafoam green eyes, and skin so pale she probably could've passed as a vampire. She looked pretty and normal, but the latter was anything but true. Normal was something she'd never be.

Without another word, Maka hurried out the door and after her friend.

This was only the second time Maka was allowed on an actual mission so she couldn't help feeling a little nervous. The rest of her team was already seventeen. After just turning sixteen recently, she was the youngest by nearly two years. Maka may have been a master at fooling her friends, but a vampire would be able to hear her pulse, her heartbeat, her breaths. She was going to have to find a way to slow them down sometime in the drive from the Academy to the neighboring city's bar.

Besides, all she had to do was act drunk and let a vampire think he could take advantage of her. No big deal, right?

Sneaking across campus was easy, considering they didn't have to sneak at all. Everyone at Gorgon Academy was permitted to come and go as they pleased—so long as they kept the school secret—and most of the teenagers usually left to party on Friday nights like this one. What they were doing seemed like the norm.

It was only when they reached the gate that they ran into trouble.

"Maka? Holy shit, is that you?"

It was Aaron, one of their classmates who was probably taking the late guarding shift at the gate for extra credit. Maka inwardly cringed. Aaron had been crushing on her for years, but he was too nice of a guy to tell to buzz off—although Kid was certainly willing.

Now, Aaron managed to squint then widen his eyes all in the same breath. Needless to say, it wasn't her normal attire so it made sense that it didn't obtain the normal response. "Why are you dressed like that?" he asked, blinking hard. "You look…"

"Slutty?" Maka guessed.

"Like a prostitute?" Liz added in cheerfully.

Aaron couldn't stop staring. "Incredible. Please tell me you're here to entertain a bored guy on a night-watching shift—just to talk, sit, hang out. I'd seriously pay you."

Maka laughed. "Okay, now you're making me feel like a _real_ prostitute. Sorry, but Baby Doll Maka is off for the night to just have some fun." She winked theatrically, and Liz snickered when Aaron looked dumbstruck for a response.

"Damn, I wish I could join you but I'm scheduled to guard until dawn."

Liz patted him lightly on the arm and said sympathetically, "Maybe some other time. Can you open the gate for us?"

When he simply pressed the button to widen the gate, Maka finally realized how lucky they were it was Aaron working that night. Any other person may have been so stunned by her attire that they'd start to ask suspicious questions, demanding to know specifics about where they were going, but Aaron was too distracted to bother with the interrogation. Actually, any other person would probably know that Maka was seldom allowed outside of the Academy during the night. As the "daughter" of the Headmaster, she was especially watched.

And this mission was a rogue one—meaning that they didn't have it approved by Headmaster Albarn, nor was it assigned by any of the teachers.

Meaning that they were basically on their own for this stakeout.

Meaning that if they caught, there was a good chance they'd face major consequences.

Maka thought it was totally worth it.

True to Liz's word, Kid and Harvar were already buckled in the car. Both boys were dressed in casual club clothes. Fancy enough to pass off for regular clubbers, but not too eye-catching—as if their looks weren't enough to make any girl bend over backwards to make them happy. Training as vampire hunters really kept the guys in shape.

The two girls climbed into the backseat and Maka smiled in greeting. "Did you guys wait long?" she asked as Harvar pulled the vehicle away from the curb.

But Kid wasn't listening. He was turned in his chair as far as his seatbelt would let him, staring at Maka with an almost comically horrified expression. "What the _hell_ are you wearing?"

Liz burst out laughing. "Not even five seconds in the car and you already jumped into the protective boyfriend role," she teased. "Nicely played, Kid."

Harvar glanced up to the rearview mirror and whistled. "Damn, Maka. You clean up good."

Kid's eyes slid down from Maka's cleavage to her legs, then he turned back to the front of the car hastily. The back of his neck was red. "You shouldn't dress like that to be vampire bait," he said between clenched teeth. "You already attract too much attention without it."

She narrowed her pale green eyes. "I'm going to be fine, Kid. I'm as much of a Hunter as you are. I can handle myself, and I can sure as hell dress myself."

A muscle jumped in his jaw. "There's hardly anywhere to hide weapons. Where are your stakes?"

Grinning, Maka tapped the side of her knee-high boots. "I have a stake in here, a knife in one heel and a bottle of holy water in the other."

"That's not enough."

"It's not like I can hide them in my clothes with what I have to do, you know," she pointed out. "The vampires might find those."

That did not reassure him. "That's not enough," Kid repeated.

"You've gone on missions with less before," Maka reminded him.

"Yeah, but you're—"

"If you say that I'm just a girl, remember that I can kick your ass into the next century," she warned.

Kid met her eyes in the rearview mirror and actually cracked a smile. When he remembered what she was wearing, it disappeared immediately. "This is a bad idea," she heard him mutter.

Next to him, Harvar snickered.

Even though the four of them had been best friends ever since they were enrolled in the Academy as freshman three years before, Kid and Maka had only been dating for a month. It was a hell of a good month, full of smiles and spontaneous kisses that stole her breath away. But since then, it was almost as if he developed an extensive jealous side. At first Maka thought it was sweet; now she just wished he would stop looking at her like she was some delicate flower.

She may have been blonde and tiny, but she had a mean left hook.

It barely took them an hour to drive into the city, and that was only because Harvar was known for driving at maniac speeds—but it was way better than Kid's carelessness, Liz's easily distracted nature, and Maka's inability to drive at all. By the time they parked a block away from the night club, Maka managed to make her speedy heart seem like excitement.

It had to be good enough. It just had to be.

She was about to climb out of the car when Kid's hand stopped her.

"What is it?" Maka asked.

Instead of answering, he turned to their other two friends. "Liz, Harvar, can you give us a minute?"

They only had to exchange one glance to come to the same decision. "Take all the time you need to talk," Liz said with a grin as she and Harvar climbed out of the car. "Emphasis on the _talk_ part. Don't forget that Maka is off-limits to you tonight!"

When the car doors shut, closing them off from the rest of the world, Kid swiftly turned and maneuvered through the space between the chairs so he was next to Maka in the backseat. She started to comment on it when she saw the look on his face.

"You don't have to do this, Maka."

"Kid—"

"I mean it," Kid insisted, staring deeply into her pale green irises with his pleading gold ones. "You have nothing to prove. We all know you're a great Hunter and will end up being one of the best. There's no reason you have to put yourself at risk for this." He clenched his jaw and scanned her barely-there attire once again. "I don't like it."

"You're just jealous that I have to act as blood bait," she tried to tease, but Kid didn't even hesitate.

"You're right; I _am_ jealous. _Crazy_ jealous. The thought of a vam—" He cut himself off then amended, "Of one of _them_ putting his hands all over you makes me want to turn a building upside down. However idiotically possessive this sounds, you're _mine_ and I love you and don't you get it? I'd hunt a million of them on my own if it made you feel like you didn't have to do this."

"That's not why and you know it." She shook her head, feeling her heart beat fast at his confession. "Dad said—"

"I don't care what the Headmaster said."

"But he won't let me go on a mission!" Maka said angrily. "I'm sixteen and totally eligible but he still won't assign me to any hunt—because I'm like his daughter, because he wants to protect me, and because he doesn't give a damn that I'm probably the only junior that hasn't been on at least twenty assignments."

She'd waited years for her chance—just like everyone else had—but when her time finally came, her adoptive father had changed his mind and said he didn't want her leaving campus for hunts. Worst of all, she couldn't even argue because he was always the Headmaster of Gorgon Academy first and her father second—meaning that his word was law.

But there was _no way_ Maka would sit around and let everyone else do what they were meant to while she had to watch from the sidelines. Not only was it not fair, but it wasn't _right_. She'd worked harder than anyone else her entire life. Why should they all be allowed to hunt vampires and she wasn't?

That was why the four friends created their own mission, using the Academy's tricks and preparation, but none of their permission. The plan was to stake as many vamps as possible to prove to Headmaster Albarn that Maka was ready to be a part of a hunt.

It was Liz's brilliant idea; the others had to be conned into it at first. Did that not explain enough?

"Why is wanting to protect you a bad thing?" Kid whispered.

Maka stared at him like he suddenly grew another head. "_Kid_."

It was all she had to say. He closed his eyes and exhaled, trying to push away his frustration like a curtain. "You know I'd give anything to keep you safe."

"I know," she said, almost sadly, as she trailed her fingers through his dark hair. "But you can't protect me forever."

Kid caught her hand and held it against his chest, and her eyes widened the quick rhythm. His heart beat fiercely beneath her fingers. There was no plea on his face, but the pace of his heart—a speedy tune of worry—was worth more than any amount of begging. "_Please_, Maka."

God, why didn't he just tear out her heart and stomp all over it? Anything would be less painful than this. "Tell you what," she said after a moment. "As soon as we finish this, I'll show you exactly what I did to get the vampire's attention." She twirled a lock of her blond hair around her finger and looked up through her lashes suggestively. "I'll even wear the outfit."

He laughed out loud, filling her with overwhelming relief to hear it. It was far from his usual amount of mirth, but it was a start, compared to his earlier darkness. "You're such a tease, Maka. I pity the poor bastard who has to go up against your charm."

Maka grinned. "Don't pity him—stake him."

"Count on it."

Before the conversation could go further, Kid pushed her back against the door of the car and kissed her with everything he had. It was so hard and passionate and consuming that it almost burned; it _did_ burn, all the way from her head to her toes. Maka let out a small moan he pressed harder, running his hands down the length of her body and stopping only to yank her leg up so she was wrapped around him. Kid was everywhere, charging her with electricity, and—

Suddenly the door disappeared from against her back. Maka yelped as she fell backward, literally tumbling out of the car in a heap with Kid on top of her. Groaning, he rolled off and they both looked up to see the faces of Liz and Harvar looking down at them.

"God, Kid," said Liz. "What part of 'Maka is off limits' did you not understand?"

Harvar looked like he was suppressing intense laughter. "You guys do know that you were in a car, right? With windows that poor pedestrians could easily see through if they walked by?"

Kid groaned again and threw his arm over his eyes, but they could all see the flush on his cheeks. "Leave me alone."

"Funny you say that because that's exactly what we have to do." Liz pulled the blonde to her feet and began to pull her away down the sidewalk.

The golden-eyed boy was on his feet in an instant. "Wait a second—"

"Sorry, but the mission is officially activated and we have no time to waste!" Liz grinned and saluted as she proceeded to drag Maka away. "Don't worry, Kid. I'll find someone nice and bloodthirsty to take care of Maka!"

Behind them, Kid's growl was mixed together with Harvar's laughs.

"Damn it," Maka muttered as they walked towards the club and away from the car. She'd finally managed to slow her heartbeat down a little, and Kid destroyed all of her efforts with one simple kiss.

_But that was more than a simple_ _kiss_, her mind whispered. Her fingers touched her lips tentatively in agreement.

Damn it.

A spray of mist in her face made Maka blink, pulling from her kissed-out phase almost as effectively as a bucket of water. Liz had sprayed her with scented body mist—like perfume, but slightly less strong—and continued to swipe the blonde's lips with flavored lip balm. A quick whiff confirmed that it was like vanilla.

As rumor had it, vampires loved vanilla.

"What are you doing?" Maka asked, but the older girl cut her off with a hiss.

"Don't talk!" At the command in Liz's voice, Maka froze like a statue and the brunette rolled her beautiful blue eyes. She finished applying the lip gloss then proceeded to beam at her masterpiece. "Sorry, I just had to fix you up after Kid—totally selfishly, in my opinion—put his scent all over you. We can't have the targets thinking you're actually taken, remember? The jackass."

Barely listening, Maka glanced back to the car to see Kid still watching her, his gold eyes unreadable except for the undeniable hunger and lust in them. She shivered despite the warmth of the night. How could one look affect her so much? How could one look have her doubting everything she'd come here to do, even knowing it was what she was meant to?

Linking arms, Liz dragged her away and snickered as they rounded the corner, away from the boys' sight and towards the enemy. "Kid looked like he was ready to murder someone!" Her voice held amusement and pride.

"You're so bad, Liz. You're _trying_ to get on his nerves, aren't you?" Maka shook her head, but she couldn't help but smile endearingly at her friend. Kid said Maka was the tease, but Liz was much better at poking fun. They both knew that Kid would probably be dying to run in after them but their plan only worked if they came in separately so they didn't look suspicious. He was bound by his own rules.

"That boy needs to know that you'll be fine on your own. It's not like we're not here without them, anyways," Liz said cheerfully.

Maka hesitated; they were nearing the club now. "Were you nervous on your first time?"

"Not when I had my parents backing me up."

A slight tinge of jealousy hit her. At Gorgon Academy—which was created to train the obvious: vampire hunters—most students had parents that were also Hunters, her friends included. That meant they had an advantage by being legacies and by being taken on outside missions with their Hunter parents. As part of the ten percent of students whose families were made of ordinary people—or who were orphans—Maka didn't have the luxury of extra practice.

Instead, she had to wait for her sixteenth birthday to be eligible for actual field work. That was the age that the Academy recently decided was safe. Since Maka had enrolled as a freshman two years early, thanks to the fact that she'd been living at the Academy since she was an orphaned baby, she was younger than all of her friends by over a year. Thus, this was only her second mission when the rest of her team had already been on so many.

But that didn't count the many attacks on the Academy, which raised her vampire kill count to seven. She was proud of every single one.

Liz gripped her elbow tighter in warning as they approached the entrance. The show was about to start.

And… _action_.

"This isn't a good idea," Liz said loudly in a worried voice. The girls flashed their fake IDs at the bouncer and slipped inside. The man seemed to eye them suspiciously through his sunglasses as he let them in, but he didn't say anything. Thank goodness that this city let people start drinking at eighteen. Maka could barely pass as that; she would never be able to pull off being twenty-one, and this particular sort of mission only worked if they could get into a bar.

As expected for a Friday night, the club was packed with people just looking for a good time. The music was loud and the energy was at its peak; the dance floor was flooded with grinding humans. People were drunk and were ready to do anything... and that meant that the vampires were out, ready to take advantage of that.

Pushing away from her friend, Maka stumbled a bit and frowned. "Why not?"

"You just got out of a relationship, and going out to a club..." Liz shook her head. It was strange to see her as the voice of reason, even if it was just an act. Maka had the sudden urge to grin. "Ben isn't here to watch your back anymore and I can't do it myself."

Ben was the name of her "ex-boyfriend." Maka pretended to flinch. "I don't need him here to protect me."

"I didn't say—"

"And you know what?" she continued. "I don't need you here either. If you're so against this idea, then just go."

Liz looked hurt. "I can't leave. I'm your ride home."

"I'm a big girl and I can find my own ride," she said airily. "All I want to do is have fun tonight and you're killing my buzz."

"Hana—"

"See you at home tonight," Maka called back over her shoulder as she turned to walk away. She let a flair of mischievousness fill her voice as she added, "Or maybe not."

Elizabeth Thompson was a proud woman that day.

The club was packed and the music was loud, but she knew that at least some of the vampires had been listening. Maka was a pretty blond girl who just got out of a relationship, wanted to have fun, and didn't have a ride home. How could a bloodsucker possibly resist?

Leaning across the bar, she ordered a shot—one that wasn't too strong but was enough to get people's attention—and was aware of several pairs of eyes watching as her skirt hitched up a little higher on her thighs. She felt relieved and proud that things were going well so far, yet she also felt slightly embarrassed by how she was acting. That last emotion she was going to have to brush away.

Casually, she turned around to survey the pulsating crowd. Vampires were good at blending in, but as a Hunter trained since she was a baby, Maka was better. She knew what to look for.

"Hey."

Maka turned towards the voice. It was a boy, probably eighteen or nineteen years old, with pale blond hair and a tentative smile. His eyes were brilliant blue, even under the flashing lights. Faint pink colored his cheeks from the warmth inside the club.

Disappointment flooded her. He was definitely a human. But she couldn't exactly just turn her head away from him, not when she just made that scene of wanting to have fun with anyone. It might turn the vampires away, and most people wouldn't try after this guy if she simply rejected him because he was actually really cute.

"Hey," she said sweetly, forcing a grin onto her face.

The boy cleared his throat. "I'm Hiro."

"Hana." That was the name on her fake ID.

"Do you want a drink or something?" he asked.

As if on cue, the bartender slid the drink she'd ordered towards her. Maka picked it up and tipped it towards the boy with a smile.

He flushed. "Or you already have one. Cool."

Maka couldn't help but laugh. Hiro may have been human and not a part of her mission, but he was sweet for a regular human boy. Innocent. "Did your friends dare you to come and talk to me?" she asked. He didn't seem like the type to come over by himself. From the way he reddened even more, she knew she was right. "Not exactly your scene, is it?"

"Not really," he admitted. "But you're really pretty so it's okay." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he blanched. "Oh, shit, I did not just say that."

"It's okay," she reassured him, stifling a laugh. The boy looked like he wanted to bang his head against a wall. Maka felt a sudden surge of regret that she had to find a way to get rid of him since she needed to flirt with vampires instead. Hiro seemed like the kind of guy that regular human mothers would've loved their daughters to date. Too bad Maka had never been a regular human girl.

How was she going to tell him to get lost without disinteresting the vampires? Liz's only advice had been to act slutty, sexy, and spontaneous at all times. She did not tell Maka what to do if she encountered a regular human boy first.

"Are your friends watching?" she asked suddenly.

Hiro looked surprised. He glanced over his shoulder at the group of people that were sitting in the back corner, not-so-discreetly staring at them. "Yeah. Even though they said they wouldn't." His tone was dry.

"Then let's give them something to talk about," Maka suggested.

When Hiro looked confused, she reached up to grab him by the shirt and pulled his lips down on hers. He stiffened with shock. After a moment of initial surprise, he softened into the kiss and lifted his hand to graze her cheek. _He was a pretty good kisser_, she couldn't help but note before pushing him away.

Poor guy looked completely disoriented. Maka smiled as sympathetically as she could, all the while turning back to the bar. "Now you have a story to tell."

"I—" Hiro was at a loss for words.

"I think the girl meant that as a dismissal," snickered a deep voice from her other side. Sitting in the seat next to hers was a another blond guy, but with skin pale as snow and eyes so dark that she almost couldn't see the red in them. Almost.

Vampire. _Finally_, she thought, although she didn't feel as relieved as she wished she did.

Hiro narrowed his eyes at the vamp in an expression that was completely different from his earlier shy innocence. Anger contorted his features, making him so fury-driven that he rivaled—maybe not Kid—but other vampire hunters in the middle of their hunt. "What the hell are you doing here?" Hiro all but snarled.

The vampire smirked at him, flashing perfectly straight teeth. "I'm here to let the girl have as much fun as she obviously wants." His eyes slid up and down Maka's body and she fought back the urge to shiver. "Thanks for warming her up for me, but I can take it from here."

Hiding her revulsion, she grinned at the vampire to let him think that he had her then turned to shrug at Hiro. "It was nice to meet you," she said with feigned disinterest.

Once again, Hiro didn't seem to know what to say, but it seemed like more of an inner struggle than anything else. Probably because he didn't want to leave the teenage girl by herself with a guy who looked to be in his mid-twenties. Thankfully he didn't know what Maka did: that the vamp must've been centuries old because of vampire immortality. A white knight like Hiro never would've left her alone with him then.

Hiro stood there for a moment longer, his fists clenched at his sides, teeth pressed together, before storming away. She watched him regretfully for embarrassing him like that. _I'm sorry_, she thought sadly. _I don't have a choice_. The vampire was her mission and she couldn't jeopardize that for a human boy's feelings.

Then she slid her eyes slightly to the left and saw Kid sitting at a table by himself. Ten minutes must have passed since they first got into the car and the two boys were supposed to come in. He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was watching her like he was supposed to. His expression was unreadable.

Embarrassment flooded her and she turned away from him hastily, reprimanding herself for feeling that way when it was her job. Kid didn't have a right to look down on her.

"So you're name is Hana, right?" the vampire said, bringing her back to the moment. "I'm Justin, and this is my brooding brother, Soul." He pointed to the guy next to him who Maka hadn't noticed earlier. With his stark white hair and jagged teeth, Soul looked nothing like his "brother" except for his flawless skin and blood red eyes. He was a vampire as well.

"I'm not brooding," Soul muttered. "You're just way too happy."

"There's that too," Justin said. "But what about you, Hana? Why are you here?"

It was obvious that he already knew from watching her earlier scene, but Maka decided to humor them. "I'm here to have fun!" As if to prove her point, she drank her shot in one gulp. It burned all the way down.

Inclining his head towards where Hiro had left, he asked, "That boy wasn't bad enough for you?"

"Too innocent and inexperienced." She dropped her voice a little, leaning forward so that her cleavage practically bulged from the top of her corset. "I need someone who knows what he's doing."

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Justin purred, placing a hand on her arm. His skin was so cold that she wanted to shiver. Tugging her closer, he positioned himself so that their noses were touching and their eyes were only inches apart. His glowed red.

"Nice contacts," she told him humorlessly, knowing full well that they definitely weren't colored lenses.

He smiled.

Then his phone buzzed in his pocket and he leaned back. "I need to take this," Justin said without even looking at it. "But you two have fun without me, okay?" He nudged his brother, gave Maka a smoldering glance, then slid away from them with a grace that only a vampire could manage.

Maka let out a breath, suddenly realizing that she'd been holding it. She shouldn't have felt relieved, but she did. Justin made her uneasy. He seemed too confident that he could take Maka, too proud to admit defeat, and she felt he'd be far too fast to pull down her pants.

Now she only had one vampire to lure in, and Soul didn't look as inclined to jump into bed with her from the first ten minutes. She was going to have to try a different tactic with this one. Suddenly Liz's "out-cleavage the bloodsucker" advice didn't quite cut it. Soul was already openly ignoring her, as if she was still talking to his brother and didn't give a damn.

"Do you want to dance?" Maka called over the music for show. She knew that his vampire hearing would make her words clear as day.

Soul glanced at her. "I'm not really the dancing type."

"Oh, come on! Who doesn't love to dance?"

"Me."

Unperturbed, Maka slid gracefully over so she claimed Justin's abandoned seat and propped her elbows up on the counter. She smiled at Soul with a smile she hoped looked more stunning than the grimace it felt like. But he wouldn't even look at her.

_Mayday, mayday, the vampire is not turned on!_ When he didn't look ready to change his mind, Maka exhaled to get his attention then pressed her teeth into her bottom lip slightly and released. It was a trick that she learned to use with Kid, only meant to be used as a last resort when she wanted something.

Bingo. Soul's eyes dropped down to her lips.

She smiled at him. "You're not used to this whole clubbing scene, are you." It wasn't a question.

Grunting, he switched his attention to the bartender who was serving drinks to some other couple. "This isn't my first time, if that's what you're implying."

"Don't worry; I'm not denting your ego or anything," she assured him. "To be honest, this isn't really my scene ether."

"You seem to know what you're doing."

A proud smile rose to her lips before she could stop it. "Glad to know I'm not as awkward as I feel."

"Can I get you two anything?" the bartender asked, stopping in front of them as he polished another glass.

"Give me the usual," said Soul. Not boldly or confidently; just plainly, like a guy asking someone to pass the salt.

"One for me too," Maka said in response. She was going to have to make this her last drink; she could already feel the buzz from the shot she had earlier. The downside of this being her first time was that she had no clue what her alcohol tolerance was.

Soul eyed her curiously. "It's probably not a drink for a girl as tiny as you."

An eyebrow shot up. "Are you seriously cautioning a girl at a bar about getting drunk? You have to be the most gracious guy I know!"

If he was a human, Maka was sure Soul would've turned red.

"No, it's cute," she insisted, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"Thanks," Soul muttered sarcastically. "Call the brooding guy at the bar cute. You really know how to make a guy feel better about himself."

Maka laughed for real this time. "I thought you said you weren't the brooding brother," she teased.

"You're right. That's my other brother, Akane. Once you meet him, I'll seem like a ball of sunshine."

"And you're telling a joke too," she exclaimed in mock-astonishment.

The corner of his lip twitched. "Don't push it." Then his head lifted and tilted slightly to the side, as if he was listening to a conversation far away. His back straightened; stoic Soul was back. "Justin should be back soon," he told her monotonously. "You'll have way more fun with him."

"Nah, it's okay," Maka said. "I'd rather talk to you."

Soul gave her a sharp look. "Why?"

She shrugged. "You're nicer."

A brow rose. "If you wanted nice, you would've stuck with the other boy."

Guy had a point. "You're funnier," she tried again, and this time Soul snorted.

"I'm not the best for that either."

"Soul, I'm trying to give you a compliment here," she said in an exasperated voice. "If you keep throwing them back, I think I'm going to have to strangle you and then I don't think you or your brother will be very happy with me."

"Word of advice? Don't tell a guy you're trying to give him a compliment. It kind of ruins it."

Maka whacked him on the arm and he actually cracked a smile. It was almost glorious, that tiny curve of the mouth. She'd always been the type to take pleasure in making other people smile, but she wasn't sure whether that should've applied to vampires too. Probably not, but the warmth in her chest was unmistakable.

Suddenly self-conscious, Maka was so grateful for the bartender for finally having their drinks ready—two bright glasses filled with sparkling liquid that was ironically red—that she downed a whole gulp in one sip. Almost immediately, she wanted to spit it right back out.

"Holy crap," Maka gasped, eyes flying wide. "What the hell is that? It takes _awful_!"

The bartender laughed. "It's his regular drink, like you ordered. Guess I should've warned you to sip cautiously."

Amusement lit Soul's defined features. "Told you."

Or maybe she'd imagined it; Maka's world was still spinning. "I think I want to kill you," she said breathlessly. "Be glad that I'm wearing this stupid outfit or I wouldn't be this wary to roundhouse you into the wall—then I wouldn't have to worry about flashing my underwear to strangers."

"Now that's something I would've paid to see," chuckled the bartender. Seeing the two teens' gazes on him, he raised his hands in surrender and backed away. "Sorry. I'm going now."

"Still mad at me?" Soul questioned when the bartender was out of earshot. "I did warn you, you know."

Maka sighed. "Yeah, I know and I'm stubborn and I'm lactose intolerant. I get it."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm allergic to milk, meaning I can't eat chocolate, meaning life sucks. Wasn't that the whole thesis of that statement?"

The vampire breathed out something that might've been a laugh. "You're so weird."

"And you're sweet," she replied with a slight smile. "Most people would've called me much worse."

"I couldn't imagine," he said, suddenly so serious that her heart caught in her throat. For the millionth time, she wished that he wasn't able to hear her heart pound.

"Did your brother drag you here too?" she asked, mildly thinking of Hiro and how he was pressured into talking to her. And how she was pressured into taking this whole bait job in the first place. Liz was the best at getting her to take risks that would be deemed "clinically insane" by most people.

"Brothers," Soul corrected. "I'm here with a few of my other siblings."

"What?" Maka's heart rate shot up and she pressed her nails into her palms to slow it down. But it was already too late to try to hide it; the vampires probably already heard.

It wasn't unusual for new vamps sired by the same older vampire to consider the others as their siblings, even if they'd been complete strangers. In a way, they _did_ share the same vampire blood and loyalty. Still, Maka kind of hoped that her first target would be one of the rogue vampires, who were made then abandoned by their creators—not someone who had brothers willing to protect his back.

"How many are with you today?" Maka asked as casually as she could manage. She'd only counted the two so far, but despite her training, it took more than a glance to identify a vampire in a crowd. In a club. At night. Under flashing neon lights.

Giving her a sidelong glance, Soul said, "It doesn't matter. If you're lucky, you won't meet the rest of us."

"You're making it sound like you guys are a natural disaster waiting to happen."

"More like an apocalypse," he muttered. "We're only here in a trio today and I'm already sure that there's going to be trouble. If all five of us were here…" Soul shook his head, not even bothering to finish that sentence. But Maka had a pretty good idea.

Relief overwhelmed her so suddenly that she was scared it showed on her face. Thankfully, Soul was too busy not paying attention to her to notice. Three would be fine. She knew that her friends could handle three vampires; they'd certainly killed more than that before. The only thing she worried about was if these vampires would be missed.

"Do you care about your brothers?" Maka asked gently, wondering if there was any way to broach the subject without seeming off character.

Soul shrugged. "They wouldn't be my brothers if I didn't."

"But you don't look like you're related."

"We're adopted. My parents both died when I was young."

"I know what you mean," Maka said truthfully, trying to imagine that he was a real orphan instead of a guy who probably just outlived his family. That made it easier to be sympathetic. "I never knew my parents either. Not even their names. I grew up under the care of someone who had to run an entire organization aside from me—" _Meaning Gorgon Academy, of course._ "—so it was really like I was raised without a real parent at all."

Soul eyed her outfit skeptically. "You look like you're doing fine. What, your caretaker's money not enough to satisfy you?"

"My caretaker's money? _Please_." Defensiveness crept into her voice. "I literally had to work for every penny I earned, every meal I ate, every day I survived. It was a mixture of chores and doing clerical work, and I couldn't turn any down without neglecting a meal in the process. Just because I'm blonde and at this club—and admittedly a little slutty—doesn't mean I didn't work hard for everything in my life."

That was the truth and Maka mentally cursed herself for saying too much. But she just hated it when people assumed she had everything handed to her on a silver platter, just because her guardian was the headmaster of Gorgon Academy. If anything, it only made him harder on her.

But when Soul looked surprised, she knew it had been the right thing to say.

"You're giving me the 'don't judge a girl by her cover' speech?" he asked mildly, and she could've sworn the corner of his lip twitched upwards.

"Depends." She bit her lip. "Does it make me seem bitchy or brainy?"

He exhaled something Maka was starting to realize was his equivalent to a laugh. "So maybe you _are_ a little more than a ditzy blonde," Soul said, sounding less dismissive than before. "What are you doing here at the club then? If this isn't your usual scene, I don't get what you're doing in a place like this. And don't lie to me like you did to my brother."

It was harder than she'd admit to remember the reaction Liz had coached her to use. "I don't want to talk about it," Maka said with forced stiffness. "Can't we just pretend I'm here for pure fun?"

"What, you'll let a bloodsucker get into your pants and not your heart?"

Her head whipped towards him in shock. "What did you say?"

"This club is full of lecherous men dying to take advantage of girls like you. They're like leeches. Bloodsuckers. Except maybe a little more dangerous." Soul raised a prodding pale eyebrow. "Why, what did you think I was saying?"

Instead of panicking or sighing with relief like she was inside, Maka cracked a wry smile. "You're really bad at comforting girls in need."

Unperturbed, he shrugged and twisted the simple silver band on his finger. "Maybe it's just me, but I don't exactly take you for a girl in need. You strike me as the type who'd beat up her mugger and tie the bastard up before the police could have the chance to save her."

"Damn straight that's me," Maka said, beaming and feeling immensely pleased that she wasn't being overlooked because of her size—as she usually was. "How did you get to be smart?"

"Hey, can't have myself underestimating my opponent."

"Your opponent?" she echoed.

"Well, yeah. I let Justin drag me to this bar just so I could continue to play the brooding brother part in the corner who'd glare at everyone who came near him, but somehow…" Soul gestured at how close her chair was to his, how the distance between them had closed. "You're beating me in my own game. It's like agreeing to fight a bunny without knowing it has claws. Deadly, furry, scary claws."

A brilliant laugh escaped her lips, and Maka was most startled to find that it was real. "I thought you said you _expected_ me to be a badass," she teased.

"I know that _now_."

"You're trying to butter me up with compliments, aren't you?" Maka smiled at him, and she was rewarded with one of his half-smiles in return. Her heart started to beat faster, but she couldn't fool herself into believing it was fear or nervousness, like it had been on the car ride to the bar. This pace of her sprinting heart… It was unfamiliar. Different. New.

Soul didn't push her, didn't nudge, and didn't press—but there was something curious in his eyes, something daring, that made his voice come out as more than just a few words. Almost like a challenge. "So are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked.

Maka Albarn was never one to decline a dare. Even if it was a prompt for a lie.

"I just broke up with my boyfriend," she said, like she was admitting something that still stung instead of reciting a part. "He cheated on me and didn't have the nerve to admit it, even after I caught him in bed with her. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. "

Soul frowned at her in incredulity and she inwardly panicked. Was she not selling this enough? Was he not buying her story?

Hurriedly, she added, "I know it sounds way too common—like, how could I _not_ know that my own boyfriend was a lying, cheating, good-for-nothing bastard?—but I really didn't—"

"That's not," interrupted Soul, "why I was looking at you like that. It's not your fault that you didn't see it coming. I just can't believe he'd do that to a girl like _you_." He shook his head disbelievingly. "What a damned fool."

Somehow, her heartbeat quickened even more than before, practically jumping out of her chest and diving into Soul's arms. This kind of intense attraction _had_ to be dangerous. "Are you saying that because you think I'm pretty?" she wondered, almost hesitantly.

To that, he didn't answer.

Entwining his fingers with hers, and a little surprised that he let her do it, Maka tugged a little and inclined her head towards the dance floor. "Dance with me?"

The moment seemed to last forever. When Soul finally relented and stood, Maka had a half a mind to jump up and cheer.

Instead, she led them to a dance floor.

It should've been easy to dance with a vampire, what with their superhuman grace and all, but Soul was reluctant to move when surrounded by people on all sides. He kept glancing around like he was expecting someone to jump out at him, stiffening whenever a person brush up against him. Even when he stayed close to her, she could tell he was reluctant to even allow that. That was when Maka realized what was up.

Soul was a newborn.

No other vampire would've been that uncomfortable when surrounded by so many humans. They would've been craving every touch, savoring every bit of energy. To live, vampires not only needed to drink blood but they had to absorb extra energy too. And there was tons of energy in a club, where humans were alive and careless and free. It was one reason how the Hunters knew that there would always be at least one vampire per public party spot.

Here, there were at least three.

In an attempt to bring Soul's attention back to her, Maka pressed closer against him. He stiffened, the minuscule bit of swaying he'd been doing stopping completely, as the warmth of her touch burned against his stone-cold body.

"Look at me," she whispered to him. "Look at only me, okay?" If he decided to release his inner demon, Maka wanted his first target to be the girl who could defend herself and not the regular humans around them. They weren't trained for it like she was.

The fast song ended, fading professionally into a smoother, slower, more intimate tune. They both froze as the bodies around them automatically adjusted into the slow dance. Then Maka, remembering that this wasn't the time to hesitate, started to sway against him.

Soul stared down at her like she was something he couldn't understand. She felt almost exposed under his scrutiny. Then his hands lifted from the tentative spot he'd placed them on her waist, one sliding through the hair on the back of her hair and the other tipping her chin up. His thumb brushed across her bottom lip lightly, causing a shiver to run up her spine.

"If I kissed you right now, would that make me another one of your misters?" Soul whispered.

She couldn't help laughing. "I think _I_ should be asking _you_ that question. Shouldn't you be the one with a million mistresses?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who kissed a boy to make him go away—about fifteen minutes after arriving, no less."

Cringing, she said, "You caught that, huh?"

"It was hard to miss, with the way you entered this club. Everyone was watching you." Soul's movements against her were smoother now than they'd been initially, regaining that vampire grace she'd expected. His confidence must've returned. Or at least his comfort.

"So naturally you'd watch me too—only because everyone else did," Maka hedged with a hidden smile. She raised an eyebrow at him challengingly, daring him to object.

"Only because everyone else did," Soul confirmed, though his tone suggested otherwise.

"Guess we're both really bad at giving compliments," she teased. To hide the heat on her face, Maka rested her head against his chest, noticing his blaring absence of a heartbeat. "Why don't you just admit that you were intrigued because of the way I'm dressed? It's slutty, and I may not be proud, but I'm not stupid. Although I'm pretty sure if you were wearing this skirt, you'd be attracting just as much attention…"

Soul snorted. "I'm doing the world favor by not wearing your skirt, Hana."

Hearing her say her fake name startled her; she'd almost forgotten she was under an alias here. Soul noticed how she stiffened and he went rigid in response, pulling back to study her face. They'd completely stopped dancing at this point.

"What?" he asked, curving a brow. "You seriously think I could pull that off?"

The tension shattered when she laughed so suddenly that it surprised even herself. "I think you could probably pull off a speedo, but that doesn't mean I want to see you in one." She paused theatrically. "Never mind—what the hell am I saying? I'd _love_ to see you in a speedo."

"As long as you wear a bikini."

Maka grinned. "How did we go from just meeting to planning a swim date already? Next thing you know, we'll be shacking up in some back parking lot."

"Parking lots are unclassy," Soul said in mock-seriousness. "If I want to do it, I'd take my girl to an actual bed. Although maybe I would make an exception for a pool… or maybe a _bed_ in the back of a truck… Hell, I'm shitting you. I'd do you in the back of a truck if that's what it took."

Throwing her head back, Maka let out a laugh that was drowned in the intense pounding of the music and the press of bodies around them, but she knew he could hear it perfectly from the way his head tilted towards the sound. "You're dirty," she teased, tongue in cheek.

"And you're beautiful," he whispered, his voice a soft brush against her lips. They were so close that a simple bump from the right direction would push their lips into contact. Maka went still. She knew she should've been the one to make the first move—it was the only part of her training that hadn't fleeted her mind by this point—but she couldn't bring herself to.

Maka had never been the type to believe in love at first sight—after all, it had taken her years to trust just Kid, Liz, and Harvar—but she couldn't deny the instant attraction. Even if it was just lust, she wanted—no, _needed_—to know if his reaction to her was his own and not a simple impulse to react. She needed to know if he wanted her because _he_ did, not because he knew _she_ did.

His answer was to close the tiny bit of space between them.

Right in the middle of the dance floor, Soul claimed her lips like they were his to start with and he hadn't just met her. Someone elbowed her in her side but she barely felt it. Maka could only focus on how fast everything was moving when Liz had told her earlier that it usually took her awhile to lure in a vampire like this. But his lips on hers, his hands cradling her head...

Was she supposed to feel proud that she was progressing faster than expected? All Maka could think of was how Soul's touch was softer than she expected from a vampire, and how she'd managed to make out with three different boys in the span of one hour.

Kid was going to hate her for sure.

She kind of hated herself.

Soul's hands started to slip down to her waist again and Maka, struck suddenly again by the reminder that this was a mission, took that as her cue. She bit down on his lip lightly and had the satisfaction of hearing him suck in a sharp breath. Biting turned out to be a huge vampire turn-on. Go figure.

"They have rooms in the back," she whispered, more shakily than she'd like to admit, pulling back a little to look at him. That was part of the plan, part of the reason why they'd chosen this club instead of one of the many others. It was easier to have private areas in the back so they could ambush the vamp than track Maka to a nearby hotel.

His eyes searched hers briefly, more so than it took for her to convince him to dance in the first place, and he nodded once.

As Soul led her towards the small bedrooms that were rentable in the back of the club, Maka turned her head back to search for Kid and signal him that she was ready. But he wasn't at his spot. Alarmed, Maka's eyes scanned the club for Harvar but he was nowhere to be found either.

Her stomach started to churn. This plan wouldn't work if she didn't have her friends backing her up. All she was supposed to do was lure the vampire into the back room and distract him enough that the boys could sneak in and stake the poor bloodsucker. Kid and Harvar should have been there. The staking of the first vampire would be like a beacon to the others nearby, luring them right into the rage of the Hunter trap.

Ashes were supposed to fly in minutes and her backup was missing.

Where the hell did they go?

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Soul asked her quietly, pausing at the entrance the back rooms. She found it funny how he was the only one concerned about her well-being for the moment. The vampire, of all people.

Maka tried not to look nervous as she nodded at him. "I'm sure."

All she could do was hope that somehow her friends were watching her anyways.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I just watched Soul Eater and I'm more than a little obsessed with SoMa now. RIP me. Unfortunately, there is a criminal lack of any vampire longfic here so I thought I should do my part. Will be updated every one to two weeks. I adore you all.

~Skye


	2. Chapter 2

Kid wanted to kill somebody.

But murdering a person with a stake in the middle of a crowded bar wasn't exactly the best plan, so he had to excuse himself and step outside to clear his head. The coolness of the air helped a little bit, but he still felt the anger burn within him like a river of fire.

Right from the start, what she was wearing threw him off. Just looking at her was enough to make him want to call off the mission and have her all to himself. She'd never worn anything like that with him before; Kid hadn't even known she owned one of those fake corsets. Stupid as it was, he felt jealous that Maka only dressed up like that when she was acting as vampire bait.

Then he'd walked into the club to find Maka flirting with a human boy—a human boy, of all things! It took everything he had not to march up and tell kid to back off. Not only did she hate his jealous side on a normal day, but in the middle of her second mission? She would've _murdered_ him.

When she kissed the human kid, Kid knew that she was just trying to get rid of him but it still made him angry. When the first vampire had his hands all over her, he kept imagining how painful he was going to make the bloodsucker's death. And when she somehow convinced the second vampire—who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else—to dance, using the same lip-biting technique that she sometimes used on him, Kid had enough.

His girlfriend was hot, he got it. She was also funny and tough and had a hell of an attitude that always managed to turn him on. It was no surprise that she could charm any guy, but Kid hated the thought that it could be any guy other than _him_.

_Damn it._ He was turning into one of those stereotypical jealous boyfriends, something he swore he'd never be. Especially since their relationship was more complicated than most.

"Kid!" Harvar burst through the door and waved him over. "You can't be out here. You know we have to support Maka."

"I know," he said between clenched teeth. "It's my job to watch my girlfriend get groped by a human and a bloodsucker. Great life, huh?"

"Shh," Harvar shushed him, but he was laughing. "That's what you get from having such a hot girlfriend."

He narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Are you into Maka too?"

"Dude, you have some serious problems. Of course I want to bang Maka, but she's with you first." He dodged Kid's swing with a grin. "And besides, I don't want to be like the bloodsucker who lays his hand on her."

"Goddamn that girl for being so persuasive. I should've never let her agree to this."

"If it's any consolation, you get to stake the crap out of that guy soon," Harvar offered.

"Trust me, that's the only thing keeping me sane right now," he muttered darkly. "Is she still dancing with him?"

"Well..."

Kid stiffened. "What?"

"Last I saw, the vamp built up enough nerve to finally kiss her," Harvar admitted. "She's moving really fast for a newbie. Not even Liz managed to get a vampire in her pants in so little time befor—"

He was already making his way back into the club, not wanting to hear more about his girlfriend's superpower of seduction. Once inside, Kid started towards the spot he'd been sitting before to make it easier for Maka to spot him but a quick scan of the room alerted him to the fact that she was nowhere to be found. He froze.

"Where the hell did she go?" Harvar asked from beside him, confirming his suspicions.

The vampire was gone too. There was only one place and both boys realized it at the exact same time. "She's already in the rooms," they said in unison, and Kid proceeded to swear repeatedly as they moved to the back. He couldn't run like he wanted to because that would've attracted too much attention to them, but he was definitely pushing the line between speed-walking and sprinting.

"How the hell are we supposed to know which room she went in?" Harvar demanded, staring down the hall of over thirty rooms in disbelief. "We can't just barge into every room until we find her."

"Try me."

"Don't!" Harvar grabbed his friend's arm before he could bust open the door to the nearest room. "Think about it. The security guards could come and kick us out before we find Maka, and by then she could be..."

Kid clenched his jaw. He didn't even want to think about the bloodsucker's hands all over his girlfriend. "Why didn't she wait for us when she saw that we weren't there?"

"Well, when a bloodsucker is turned on and wants to go into a room, it's not exactly easy to say, 'Hey, can we just wait until my overprotective boyfriend is watching before you try to stick your tongue down my throat? Yeah, thanks.'" Harvar's voice was matter-of-fact and not at all mocking, but it was just as demeaning.

"You're not helping."

At the end of the hall, a human boy—no, _the_ human boy; the one who Maka pity-kissed—was hesitating outside one of the rooms. Then, with a deep breath, the guy pushed open the door quietly and slipped inside.

Narrowing his eyes, Kid watched the boy disappear into the room. So the mortal jerk had kissed his girlfriend then managed to get another girl to meet him in one of the rooms? If they weren't so pressed for time, Kid would've marched in and decked the guy.

"Hey," Harvar called to a couple that had just come out of one of the rooms. "Did you happen to see a tiny blond girl go into one of these rooms recently?"

They stared at him like he was crazy. "Dude, we've been in that room forever," the guy said. "I don't even know what time it is."

Giggling, the girl twiddled her fingers as she followed her boyfriend out.

That did not assure Kid.

"We could try to listen for her voice with our ears against the doors?" Harvar suggested.

"This is fucking creepy," Kid muttered, but he pressed his ear against the first door without another complaint.

* * *

Maka let the vampire lead her by the arm with as little hesitance as she could. Not spotting Kid or Harvar in the crowd made her nervous. Were they really gone or had they just slid out of sight until it was time to attack? She really hoped it was the latter.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, Soul's lips were on hers. He kissed her passionately, almost hungrily, and Maka reciprocated, partly because she knew it was what she was supposed to be doing for this mission—but mostly because she couldn't think straight enough to pull away.

Alcohol still dominated her blood, making everything like fire. Every time he brushed her skin, she burned. Every kiss felt like it was lighting her up from the inside out, drawing reactions from her she never knew she could have. Maka arched into his kisses like a girl starving for breath and finding it in his.

His hands lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he maneuvered them to the single king-sized bed. Soul lay her down on the mattress without breaking the kiss, and when he finally did pull away, it was only long enough that Maka could see the hunger in his darkening red eyes.

"Who are you?" he whispered. He didn't even give her a chance to answer because then he was kissing her all over again. Maka tried to ignore the chills that ran up her body as his fingers played on her hips, trailing along the bare strip of skin between her skirt and corset shirt. She wanted to blame it on his vampirism, or at least the alcohol, but couldn't—drunk _or_ sober.

_Kid, where are you?_ she thought. At this rate, if she waited, the vampire would have her undressed before her friends came to stake the vampire. And that was seriously a situation she wanted to avoid at all costs.

It smelled so heavily of floral perfume in this room that she wondered how his vampire senses could stand it. Sitting up over her, Soul reached to pull his shirt over his head and exposed his bare chest, muscled and pale as she expected all vampires to be. Maka managed to draw one shaky breath before he claimed her lips again.

Had she thought about it—had her head been clear enough—it probably made it easier in a way. To stake him with his shirt off. While Maka passed that test back at the Academy, she was so tiny that every bit of assistance helped. If her teammates were going to abandon her when she needed them, then it was a good idea that she'd brought her own weapons.

She was going to have to stake him herself.

When his hands started to slide up the lace at the back of her shirt, she shivered and tried to think of how to do this right, how to sneak the stake out to pierce him with, how to stop her heart from pounding so much and her lips from wanting more. How to be more of a Hunter than a sixteen-year-old girl that still got shivers when a vampire touched her—when _anyone_ touched her.

She was so pathetic.

Suddenly, Soul stiffened. His hands stilled against her back and he pulled away, a wild fire burning beneath his eyes. "What the hell happened to you?"

"What?" She was so disoriented that she couldn't even guess what he was talking about.

When he moved his thumb gently over her lower back beneath her shirt, a chill went down her spine as she realized what he was talking about before the words were even out of his mouth. "There are scars—deep ones—all over your back," he practically growled. There was something about his touches that felt soft and possessive at the exact same time.

"Oh, that's nothing." She shoved his hands away from her body, her cheeks burning as she tried to slide up from under him. How could she have forgotten about those? She was never supposed to let him get that far. Soul gripped her arms, refusing to let her move. A murderous expression claimed his eternally perfect face.

"Who's hurting you?" he demanded. "Is it your ex-boyfriend? Is that why you broke up?"

"No!" Maka denied defensively before realizing how much easier it would've been to let him believe it was her imaginary ex. The truth was so much worse. "I mean, it doesn't mean anything now. What's done is done, and those were from a long time ago."

His red eyes searched hers. "They're nothing to be ashamed of. I had plenty of scars just like those too."

She eyed his flawless, pale chest incredulously. "Yeah, and I'm a dragon who breathes fire."

A flicker of frustration crossed his face. "You—"

"Please just shut up and kiss me," she interrupted as she pulled his lips back down to hers.

It was a lame attempt at a distraction but somehow it worked. Soul kissed her back fiercely, his anger mixing in with his desire, and he pushed against her in a way that Kid was often afraid to because he was scared she would break. There was no such hesitance in Soul's perusal. His touches were hungry, fiery, and wild; his moans of pleasure nearly drove her mad.

But when his kisses moved down to her throat and she felt his fangs graze her skin, Maka stiffened and drew the line. That was the final push she needed. She lifted her legs to wrap around his waist and reached for her boot to grab the stake—

Only to be jerked forward by the sudden loss of his body as he was yanked away.

Her first thought was that she should be relieved, and that Kid was finally there. But when she finally noticed who it was that pulled Soul off her, Maka's mouth fell open.

"Hiro?"

It was the human boy who she kissed at the bar counter, not her vampire hunter boyfriend. She must've been doing a damn good job distracting Soul for him not to notice the mortal come in. Hiro flicked a glance at Maka and a look of relief passed over his face, so strong that it rooted her to her spot. "You're okay," he breathed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, stunned.

"People who come in here with them don't come out. I wasn't going to sit back and watch it happen again." Venom filled his voice like an old grudge. Then Hiro pulled back his fist and punched Soul straight across the jaw.

He just punched the vampire.

_Holy shit. _

Maka allowed herself a split second of shock as Soul recovered and moved his head slowly back to center. She didn't need to see his face to know that his eyes had gone a feral red; she could hear it in his inhuman growl that was filling the air. See it in the tenseness of his back muscles.

Vampires didn't like to be punched.

Soul had Hiro across the room in an instant, throwing him so hard that his entire body seemed to rattle. The human boy didn't even have any time to slip down to the ground when the vampire pinned him to the wall, snarling in his face like he was about to tear his throat out with his bare teeth. Hiro tried to squirm, but it was no use.

Instinct took over. As swift as the fastest Hunter, Maka pulled her stake out of her boot, gripped it in both hands, and charged forward to shove it between Soul's shoulder blades with all her might—right through his heart.

According to vampire semantics and the seven vamps she'd staked in the past, he was supposed to turn to ash as soon as the wood pierced his heart. But Soul remained whole and standing.

Maka only had time to frown in confusion when he whirled around so fast that she was sent flying to the ground. She tried to roll into a crouch but he had her wrists pinned down on both sides of her before she could get up. Her body froze under the weight of his gaze and body pinning her down.

And the stake sticking out of his chest was so close to touching her that she was scared to breathe.

There was no question about it; she did hit his heart—or where it should've been. Whatever this was, it was not a normal occurrence. She'd never heard of a vampire not being killed from a direct stake to the heart before.

Slowly, Soul moved to pin both of her hands together on one side of her and reached his other hand to wrap around the stake. He yanked it out with a simple flick of the wrist, not even grimacing as his blood started to drip down from the hole where his heart should've been and onto Maka's body.

His eyes were so bright that they were almost glowing now, and she could've sworn that they got brighter as he raised the stake to study it. Even a newborn vampire would have recognized the Hunter symbols carved into the wood. And if not, he had to realize that not anyone could drive a stake through a vampire's chest. Not without training and discipline.

Not without being a Hunter.

Soul snapped the thick stake in half in his one hand just by squeezing his fingers over it. Each part tumbled to the ground on either side of Maka's head, clanging against the hard floor. The absence of his breathing and heartbeat was deafening.

"What are you?" Maka stared at the hole in his chest with horror and confusion. The wound was already starting to heal itself; it was pulling together to form smooth, unmarked skin again underneath his already drying blood.

"That's not what I'd be asking in your position," Soul said lowly. His hands tightened over her wrists. "You're a Hunter." There was no question in his voice.

What was the right response to that? There was really nothing she could say, so Maka merely clenched her jaw and met his gaze. "And you're a vampire."

"But you already knew that."

Maka could feel his blood seeping through the fabric of her shirt, soaking her like a neon mark. Even with the recovering hole in his chest, Soul was still the strongest between the two of them—three of them, including the human boy. But he'd already seen her stake so there was no point in hiding what she knew. "Are you going to try to kill me?" she asked. She was surprised to hear no fear in her voice and to see Soul's eyes harden even more.

"It's only fair since you just tried to drive a stake through my heart."

"But your heart wasn't even there," Maka accused with narrowed eyes.

She'd expected him to deny her, to tell her she was crazy—because it was impossible for a vampire to live without a heart, beating or otherwise. But Soul merely stared at her. "Maybe you missed." The tone of his voice suggested they were empty words; he didn't believe it and neither did she.

"How..." She bit her lip unconsciously, then released it fast when she realized that Soul was eying her mouth hungrily. "How does that work?"

"I don't have a heart."

"That's—"

"Impossible?" he guessed. "Ridiculous? Because so is a little girl like you thinking she can stake a vampire without backup."

Bristling, she almost said that she _wasn't_ alone but stopped herself. Soul must've been planning to kill her; she couldn't let him know that he could make the kill as a package deal. "In my defense, you were about to bite a civilian so you can't say you didn't see it coming," Maka pointed out instead. Next to the wall, Hiro lay unconscious on the floor and he didn't look ready to wake up anytime soon.

Soul's gaze fell to her lips then to her eyes again, and it felt like his hands were going to crush her wrists now. "I didn't see it coming," he said in a quiet voice.

_What? _

A sudden crash erupted outside, followed by a snarl and a shout in a voice she would've recognized anywhere. _Kid_. When Soul glanced up at the door, Maka took her chance and rolled him off him so swiftly that he released her wrists in surprise. She was halfway to her feet when he yanked her up fully and shoved her against the far wall, holding her there.

"Kid," she called quickly to the door, "I'm in—"

A hand clamped down over her mouth as Soul hissed, "Be quiet!"

She bit his fingers and he released her mouth but didn't let go, only tightened his hold on her wrists and pressed her against the wall hard enough that she had to suppress a whimper. She could barely even breathe with how forceful his grip was.

"Maka, I'm coming!" This was Kid's voice again, followed by a grunt and another crash. "You bastard," he snarled, and this she knew wasn't meant for her. He must have been fighting someone—and it probably wasn't a human.

Soul's eyes hardened as he realized what Kid's shout out had meant: Her name wasn't Hana and she didn't come alone. A mixture of anger and shame crossed his face. Taking advantage of that brief hesitation, Maka hooked her foot behind his ankle and pushing forward with her, sending him falling onto his back. At the same time, she spread her hands out so she could do a handstand flip over to her feet and twisted her wrists so Soul would let go.

All of that happened in a second.

She'd barely managed to steady herself before Soul was running at her again with vampiric speed. But she was ready for him this time. Her hand parried his attempt to grab her and her foot kicked at his chest. He caught her leg, undaunted, and flipped her over in one swift motion.

Grunting, Maka landed on her side, a sharp stab of pain shooting up her arm—but it was nothing she wasn't used to. She rolled over into a crouch and this time, Soul let her.

"How many of you are here?" Soul demanded, staying a steady instance from her, his hands clenched at his sides.

"You didn't tell me how many of you there were, so why should I?" Maka shot back.

"And your name isn't Hana either; it's Maka." His eyes widened suddenly as if something dawned on him. "You're... You're Maka Albarn."

Maka's heart pounded. How did he know her full name? Did the vampires have some sort of Hunter database?

Her hesitation must've been answer enough because he swore, raking a hand sharply through his pale hair. "Why the hell would they let you out of the Academy? This changes _everything_!" Soul roared angrily and spun on her. "You have to get out of here. Now."

"No way," she said immediately. "Not without my friends."

"Damn it, I forgot how stubborn you all are." He swore again and strode forward. Maka held her ground and braced herself for a blow, but much to her surprise, he simply moved past her towards the door and laid his hand on the handle. Pausing, Soul shot a glance at her over his shoulder and said, "Stay here," before shooting through the door.

_The hell I will_, she thought back.

When she followed him out, Maka stumbled a bit, still dizzy from the strong alcohol shot, but managed to stay upright. She expected to see Kid and Harvar there, kicking the vampire asses of Soul's two other brothers, but instead she caught a glimpse of an empty hallway.

Confusion took over but she refused to let her guard down. She reached for the knife in her heel then thought better of it, in case a regular human walked by and reported her to security for carrying a weapon. She'd be more help to her friends unarmed than being hauled out of the club.

Maka barely took one step out of the hallway when a dark shape came at her and shoved her back into the room, slamming the door shut behind them. Before she could react, Soul clamped a hand over her mouth again and hissed, "I told you to stay here."

"My friends—"

"Are gone," he finished. "I'm not trying to hurt you, but we have to go now."

It felt like someone sucker-punched her in the gut. "What do you mean my friends are gone?" she asked. Maka knew Kid wouldn't leave her unless he was dragged kicking and screaming, so the only conclusion that came to her mind was exponentially worse.

"Relax, they're alive," assured Soul—or she thought it was meant to be reassuring. It was hard to tell since he sounded so furious. "The bouncer of the club is a vampire and he said he's not going to stand for a fight in his hall. So he kicked them out."

The bouncer was a vampire? Maka thought back to the man at the entrance who let them in. His sunglasses hid his red eyes, but otherwise she hadn't noticed anything different about him. He must've known that Soul and his brothers were vampires; he must've known the girls they drained in those back rooms. And yet he admitted them anyways, not just _allowing_ but _condoning_ murder in his club.

"My brothers are probably beating the shit out of your friends now," Soul continued, "but as soon as they—"

"No," Maka said adamantly. "My boyfriend is one of the best Hunters at the Academy. He'll be okay."

Dark amusement flitted across his face. "Your boyfriend let you make out with a bloodsucker for a mission?"

Heat rushed to her face. She shook her head hastily even though it was mostly true and started to push past him. "I have to go help him—"

Soul stuck out an arm to stop her. "As soon as my brothers realize what you are, you're dead. They heard you call out to your Hunter friend and will know you're one of them, and you'd have to be stupid to believe they'd just let you walk free. Plus, if they figure out _who_ you really are..."

"But my—"

"You think your friends can stake mine if you can't even drive one through my heart?"

She stopped breathing. "They're heartless like you?"

His smile was wry. "Wow, you really know how to make a guy feel better about himself."

If that was true, then there was no way Kid and Harvar could kill them. Decapitation might have worked decades ago, but lately the Hunters were discovering that vampires were capable of living without heads. They guessed it had to do with witches but they couldn't be certain.

And now they could live without hearts? The thought of vampires finally being as invincible as they claimed scared her.

For a moment, Maka thought of pulling the knife from her boot but realized that he'd probably retaliate before she'd have the chance to attack him. Staking him was out of the question with his missing heart. And how was she supposed to help Kid even if she did make it to him?

But no. _No, no, no, no, NO_. She couldn't even think like that. "I have to go help them," Maka said again, this time her voice like steel. "I don't care if I die trying or if I'm only a burden—there's no way I'm going to leave them to protect myself!"

"It's more dangerous for them when you're here than if you ran away!" Soul retorted. Gripping her arms tightly in his grasp, he enunciated the next words out of his mouth carefully, as if it made the threats all the more menacing. "As long as you're here, my brothers will continue fighting your friends until they win before coming after us. If we left right now, they'd be too preoccupied with the chase to take the time finishing the Hunters off."

"You could be lying," accused Maka. "How do I know that you're not just going to take me away to get killed?"

"Don't be a damn stubborn teenage girl when I need you to be a Hunter!" he growled. "Look at the facts. I haven't killed you yet and I stand to gain nothing from you by doing this. Why would I try to take you away just to murder you? I could do it here and save myself from getting on my brothers' bad side."

"Then why?" she burst out. Feeling liked the energy was yanked out from under her, Maka collapsed to her knees and stared up at him. "Why are you here?"

Soul wasn't listening. Once again, his head was cocked to the side as he listened to a faraway conversation. Maka tried to use that opportunity to sneak off, but he shot her a warning look when she moved more than an inch.

After a moment, he pulled her to her feet and cursed. "We have to get out of here." When Maka opened her mouth to protest, Soul shot her an urgent look that made her stop cold. "Now," he told her, slightly softer this time but no less commanding.

"Why do you need to get me out of here?" she wanted to know. Maybe it was the alcohol, but her mind was a broken record and she couldn't fix it. "Why won't you let them kill me, like you were probably going to do anyways?"

"I wasn't going to—" Soul broke off and shook his head, as if trying to dismiss his argument. "I should've listened to my instincts and left you alone. Now you're stuck being a target, so you better damn go with it because I'm not kidding when I say I'll knock you out if you try to run."

Not waiting for an answer, he grabbed Maka's arm and threw her onto his back. She yelped and held on from pure instinct, then tried to let go but he wouldn't let her. "Put me—"

"I'm trying to protect you, Maka, so please just shut the fuck up and go along with it." Hearing Soul say her name startled her into stillness. She was pretty sure that she wasn't even breathing as she tried to decide whether or not to trust the bloodsucker. Her first instinct was no, that she shouldn't, that he was a vampire and vampires weren't to be trusted.

But like he said, if he was planning on killing her, why didn't he already?

Making a decision, Maka wriggled on his back and said, "I can walk."

"Not faster than a vampire," Soul contradicted blandly, not even moving to put her down.

"I may not be a vampire but—"

She was cut off abruptly when Soul swung her around from his back so they were face to face. His red eyes glared harshly into hers as he growled, "Your boyfriend is doing his damn best to stall my brothers but if we don't leave now, then we're never going to get another chance. We can't let them hear us so please, I beg of you, just hold your complaints until after I get our asses out of here. Okay?"

At a loss for words, Maka blurted out the only coherent thought in her mind. "I thought vampires never resorted to begging."

Growling, Soul threw her around onto his back again without an answer. He soundlessly slid the large black dresser against the far wall to reveal a door-sized hole. It looked like an elevator shaft without the elevator—or without anything, really. Just a big gaping drop.

Maka peered over Soul's shoulder to get a better look at the hole. "Is that a secret staircase or something?"

The vampire snorted. "Or something," was all he said before he jumped through it.

She had to hold back a scream as they dropped down the hole. It was deeper than she expected—probably a few stories at the least. When Soul landed, his vampire grace softened what should've been a hard impact. But Maka could still make out the strange lumpy ground beneath his feet from the narrow shaft of light that streamed down from the room.

That was, until Soul pressed a small button beside them and the light disappeared as the dresser slid smoothly back into place.

Unsurprisingly, Soul had no trouble seeing in the complete darkness even as Maka struggled to adjust her vision. He was sprinting down the tunnel faster than any human could ever run, but she could tell that he was slowing down for her a bit so she wouldn't be disoriented. It was both insulting and sweet.

Squinting in the darkness, she asked, "Is there a secret passageway from every single bedroom in the club?"

There was a pause before he answered. "Yes."

"Why?"

This time he didn't answer at all. But it was just as well, because Maka already knew the answer. It all made sense now that she knew the bouncer was a vampire and drinking blood was condoned in this club. Suddenly the lumpy grounds and bad smell made sense—the strong incense of perfume in the rooms to overpower this stench, too.

Bodies. They dropped bodies down here.

It made sense. Vampire corpses were easy to deal with because they turned to ash when killed, but disposing of human carcass wasn't as clean or subtle. They needed someplace to put them where they couldn't be found—and when people were going missing after clubbing from so many different places, why would the police search this one?

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think about it.

They reached the end of the tunnel in no time. It opened up to a lit room—not at all bright, but still blinding after the immense darkness of the tunnel. Maka blinked repeatedly to adjust to the vast space of the new room, but Soul was already running through the small wooden door on the far side. She held on for dear life.

"Soul—"

"Be quiet," he said in a clipped tone. Then, because he must've realized that she wouldn't shut up without an explanation, he added, "We're out of range now, but last I heard, my brothers were finishing up with your friends so it shouldn't be long before they come after us."

Maka's grip tightened around him.

"Hey," he said softly. "You know that you'd probably be choking me right now if I was breathing, right?"

She remained silent.

"They won't kill your friends."

"You don't know that."

"I know that my brothers are murderers, but they're not stupid." Soul leaped over a metal bar as he ran. "They've probably already figured out that I went rogue to protect you. If anything, they'll be in too much of a hurry chasing us to deal with the messy aftermath of killing a couple Hunters."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you the reason we want you here—"

"Not that," she interrupted. "I mean, why did you go rogue to protect me? You don't even know who I am."

Soul paused. "Maybe, but I know of you."

"What, is the tiny blond Hunter suddenly famous in the vampire world?" Maka tried to keep her voice sarcastic, but the fear behind her words was clear.

"You have no idea how special you are," he said with a humorless chuckle. "If only you knew."

Her heart jumped in her chest, and Maka had a feeling it had nothing to do with the fact that they were running. She was suddenly aware of how tightly she was clutching him and she felt her face heat up. How could she have trusted a vampire so completely, so quickly? It went against everything she'd learned growing up in the Academy. All of that had been thrown out the window when Soul supposedly saved her life at the expense of his own.

If Maka was watching herself on the movie screen, she'd probably be yelling at the girl for being such an idiot. Drinking more than she could handle? Unprofessional. Making out with a vampire? Cringe-worthy. But actually trusting the vampire, actually believing he was trying to save her, and actually _wanting_ to?

Out of everything that happened, somehow that was the thing that struck Maka most of all.

Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel as Soul slowed down to jump up a steep hill. No steps, which showed how humans were never meant to get out of this place. And considering how fast vampires moved, it must've been a really lengthy passageway for it to take that long.

They emerged from the tunnel into the dark interior of some abandoned building. Maka's mouth twisted into a wry smile. She didn't recognize this building, which wasn't hard to believe considering she'd only been outside of the Academy a handful of times. But she couldn't believe something as large as this existed without the Hunters noticing.

Or did they know about it? Maka never really questioned their reasons before, but after everything she'd been through, it seemed appropriate.

"Who built this thing?" Maka asked, half-awed, half-resigned.

"Who do you think? Vampires, of course." The words alone would've been a boast, but they were plainly matter-of-fact coming from Soul's mouth.

He walked at a more normal pace through the factory, as if he was trying to decide what to do next. The white-haired vampire didn't even seem worried about Maka attacking him from on his back. Maybe it was because he didn't think she'd betray him when he was in the process of saving her life... Or maybe it was because he didn't have to worry about dying when he didn't have a heart.

It must've felt great to be able to walk around knowing that no one could kill him.

"What now?" Maka asked, feeling strangely comfortable on his back while trying to feel uncomfortable at the exact same time.

Soul threw open a door that revealed the dark night streets. "We run."

* * *

**Author's Note:** They're all a little out of character and I haven't even introduced Wes yet, but oh well. This is my story and I'll do what I want. I'm having way too much fun.


	3. Chapter 3

Something was chasing her.

Maka pumped her legs as quickly as she could, thankful for her petite stature that made gliding through the air easy. Trees rushed by; the forest around her was a blur of danger and thorns, cutting into her skin with their rough arms as if they were trying to reach out and grab her. But the snarl still only grew closer.

There was no way she could outrun a vampire.

A hand grabbed her shoulder, jerking her backwards. Maka managed to flip over and land on her feet, skidding back against the dirt, but the impact still echoed within her bones. She lifted her head to meet glowing crimson eyes.

_Justin. _

He smiled at her, a twisted, sadistic smile that chilled her to the bone, revealing two sharp fangs covered in blood.

"Your boyfriend tasted good," Justin sneered. "But I have a feeling you'll taste better."

Lunging at her, he moved so quickly that she could only see a blur. Maka fumbled for the stake she always kept in her knee-high boots, but it wasn't there. Her eyes widened as the vampire rammed into her.

They fell on the floor in a tangle of limbs, Justin's strength pinning her down uncomfortably on the uneven forest grounds. His nails dug into her shoulder-blades and his teeth snapped an inch away from her face. She tried to struggle but found herself unable to move as his fangs slid to graze her neck—not out of fear or restraint, but a startling paralysis. It was like her mind was disconnected from her limbs.

"Maka Albarn," he whispered. "You have no idea how special you are."

And then he bit her.

* * *

Maka woke up screaming, thrashing wildly in the bed sheets as she bolted upright in bed. Instinctively, her eyes flew around to survey the area around her. It took a moment for her to remember what was different, and then everything came rushing back.

She was in a hotel room. They were on the run. Kid was possibly dead. And Soul...

Where was Soul?

The door to the bathroom opened and Soul stepped out. Maka could barely hide her shock at the sight of his bare chest, and she certainly failed at suppressing her blush. His pale hair was wet and he was wearing jeans, so it was obvious that he'd just gotten out of the shower.

He regarded her with an unreadable expression, the same one he'd been wearing since they fled from the club together. "Are you all right?"

Swallowing, she managed a nod. Maka blinked to get rid of the haze that still haunted her from the previous night—not just because of the events, but the _alcohol_. She'd only downed two cups before, but somehow that was enough for her low tolerance to kick in. It was obvious she'd be nursing a massive hangover. Not exactly a great start to a runaway mission.

Noticing her dizziness, Soul commented dryly, "You're not used to drinking, are you?"

"Don't be cocky," Maka muttered, throwing her legs over the side of the bed. "The only reason you beat me last night was because I was tipsy. I could totally take you."

He snorted. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Certain that her cheeks were flaming, Maka turned away from him and rose to her feet, trying very hard not to sway when she did. She stretched then pretended to busy herself with folding up the sheets. His eyes bore into her the entire time. Could he see the thoughts burning behind her eyes? Could he tell that she had a much too complicated life to run away?

"Get ready," intoned Soul. "We should get going soon."

After they'd escaped from the club, Soul had run for a few more miles before hijacking a random car on the street so they could drive away. When Maka asked why they didn't keep running since it was obviously faster, he'd told her that his brothers couldn't trace them by scent if they moved by vehicle.

And so they drove for over seventeen hours until Maka remembered that vampires, however invincible they were, still needed to sleep. Soul didn't say anything, but she could tell from his restlessness that he was in danger of running them off the road if he didn't get some rest—and fast.

That was how they ended up here, renting a single motel room on the side of a secluded road. She wasn't sure how he managed to secure a room when she was certain he wasn't carrying any cash on him. They'd circled around at first to leave a fake trail so his brothers would track them in the opposite direction, and she doubted he'd ruin it by using any sort of credit card.

There was no way to know if their ruse had worked. All they could do was keep going.

Maka took a quick shower, dousing herself in a moderate floral scent to disguise herself like Soul had suggested. When she stepped out, fully dressed in the new clothes they'd picked up on the way—thankfully a little more conservative than the slutty corset outfit she'd been wearing—Soul was already waiting.

"Let's go," he said.

It was only when they were safely fastened in the car—the third vehicle they'd stolen since the left in an attempt to keep switching it up—that Maka finally found the voice to speak. "Soul?"

"What is it?"

Maka finger-combed her blond hair hesitantly, staring straight ahead through the windshield as they drove instead of looking at him. She opened her mouth then closed it. There was so much she wanted to say—so much she wanted to ask—but she settled on, "Where are we going?"

"I need to meet up with some of my brothers. We need to figure out—"

"_What?_" she exclaimed, head snapping to look at him. "You want to go back to the murderous vampire siblings that are out to get us right now?"

"Of course not," said Soul, sounding almost offended that she'd think so. "I'm not stupid enough to believe that Justin and Akane would have a change of heart." Akane was the name of the other anonymous brother who'd been at the club with them. Evidently, he was just as bloodthirsty. "But the others are more like me. We're here to protect you."

"How can you be sure? I don't even know if I can trust _you_ yet, let alone a few other vampires!"

Soul gripped the steering wheel. "There's nothing I can say to you that will make you trust us—not without sounding like a lying bastard or at least someone crazy out of his mind. But if you hear what we have to say when we can give you proof…"

"How many?" She clenched her jaw to keep from growling. "How many 'brothers' of yours are we going to meet?"

"Two. There are five of us in total, two working in complete accordance with our vampire creator, and the other three of us rebelling against her—or at least trying. The damn woman is far too protected for her own good," he muttered.

"Why rebel then? It sounds like she treats you pretty well."

A sharp laugh jumped from Soul's lips. "Even if that was true, it doesn't matter. Our lives are not ruled by how we're treated, but how we _react_ the way we're treated." He paused. "Are you going to fight me?" She knew he was asking how she would react to this situation.

Exhaling, she pulled her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. "I don't really have a choice, do I?"

He didn't answer.

* * *

**Three and a Half Years Ago… **

"_Maka, this is Kyle Kidman." _

_She stared at the boy in front of her, seeing nothing more than a fourteen-year-old who'd been through too much for someone his age. Dark hair disheveled and gold eyes hollow, he sat stiffly on the couch in Headmaster Albarn's office, staring blankly at the wall next to her like he was the only one in the room. _

"_He's one of our legacies," Headmaster Albarn continued explaining. "His parents had been Hunters trained at this Academy, too, when they were your age—they were some of the best—but they died last week in a vampire attack. Kid will be staying with us until the semester starts next month." _

_When the two teens didn't say a word, Albarn glanced at his watched and let out a frustrated sigh. _

"_I have to go, but I'll leave you two here to get acquainted. Try not to kill each other before I get back, okay?" When both teens remained silent, Albarn added, "You'll be the only two on campus for another few weeks before everyone returns from summer vacation, so you might as well try to get along." _

_There was an undercurrent that made it clear this was not a suggestion. _

_Maka wondered if the new boy noticed it too. _

_After Albarn left, Maka studied the boy more closely. It took a moment of silence before Kid flicked his gaze up to meet hers and glowered. "What the hell are you staring at?" _

_Undaunted, she smiled. "You have pretty eyes." _

_Kid blinked. _

"_They're gold," she added. "I've never seen anything like them before. Are they natural?" _

"_Of course they are," he snapped. "What else would they be?" _

"Un_natural, I guess." Maka laughed softly and rocked on her heels, the gesture so innocent that it seemed almost too young for her twelve-year-old self. "You know, I think this is the first time I've ever talked to someone my age. It feels different somehow. Does it seem that way to you too?"_

"_Have you ever thought maybe it was because people don't _want _to talk to you?" Kid asked cruelly. "That there's a reason people stay away? That you just need to shut the hell up?" _

"_Maybe," she said thoughtfully, surprising him at the lack of insult in her voice. Her smile was shy yet genuine; small yet practically blinding. "The bad thing about seclusion is that I don't really have anything to compare myself to."_

_Kid stared at her like she was a dragon with two and a half heads. "How can you be so happy to be in this place?" _

"_I'm not. I've dreamed about leaving for years." Maka traced the shape of a figure eight on her leg over and over and over again, admitting, "Everything I know, I've learned from Dad or the television or the Council or the books from the library. I want to discover everything I've missed." She looked up at him. "You're so lucky." _

_He snorted. "My parents are dead. I don't think that constitutes me as a privileged bastard." _

"_At least you had parents," she pointed out. "At least you've been outside the Academy's gates more than a handful of times. You've experienced your own adventures and created your own memories. Doesn't that count for something?"_

_His eyes hardened. "If you want to leave so badly, then why don't you just run away?" _

"_I have. More than once." She pushed up the edge of her shirt to reveal the angry slashes marking her pale skin, so deep and horrific that even Kid's gold eyes went wide at the sight. But Maka didn't even flinch as she said simply, "They always caught me." _

_Kid opened his mouth then closed it. He repeated that motion several times before he finally said, "If you're looking for a friend, I'm not exactly the best candidate." _

"_Dad said we'll be the only ones in the Academy for the next few weeks before summer break is over, so I don't see why we can't hang out," she said practically. "Besides, I don't think you're all that bad." _

"_You've got it all figured out, don't you?" he asked dryly. _

"_I'm kind of playing it as I go along. How am I doing?" _

_For a long moment, Kid didn't answer. They sat there in silence, staring at each other, one in curiosity and the other in utter disbelief. If outsiders were to look at this scene without explanation, they would've seen two completely different teens who couldn't have possibly had anything in common—not realizing that they would be each other's salvation. _

_Finally, Kid stood up and walked all the way to the door with his hands stuffed in his pockets. When he glanced back at Maka, who remained despondently in her seat, he said, "Are you coming or what? We have a lot to do if we want to get you up to date by the time school starts." _

_Maka beamed. _

* * *

They drove for another twelve hours, stopping in random places at random times for reasons Maka didn't understand. At each of the stops, Soul would leave her in the car for a few minutes and come back with snacks and a frown marring his beautiful face. When Maka asked about it, he said he was leaving a trail that only his _allied_ brothers would understand—not his _enemy_ brothers.

But what sucked most was that, even though Soul was allowed to call people off his encrypted cell phone, Maka was not. He said it was too dangerous to contact people she cared about, traceable or not, especially at the Academy.

She wanted to call Kid so badly it hurt. She wanted to know he was okay—wanted him to know _she_ was okay—and wanted to know if he survived the vampire attack as well as the punishment that Headmaster Albarn would definitely ensue after he learned she was gone. Maka got chills just thinking about what her adoptive father would say about this.

Headmaster Spirit Albarn was harsh. Everyone knew it. He'd raised Maka bravely on his own so she could stand tough. He never had any sympathy for her when she was exhausted from Hunter training, and not once did she get reprieve from her chores. Like she told Soul, Maka had worked for every penny she got, and that made it all the more damn worth it.

Albarn taught her to be strong—so she was.

Or at least she pretended to be.

Maka remembered the first time she met Kid. His parents just died, weeks before the start of his first semester at the Academy, and Spirit Albarn had introduced them, demanding they make an acquaintance but not realizing how much they would come to mean to each other.

If he'd known, Maka doubted he would've introduced them at all. The last thing he needed was for his puppet of a daughter to fall in love.

But how could she not? After twelve years of solitude and punishment, Kid was the first friend she ever had. He stayed with her when no one else did; taught her things she never would've been able to learn on her own. Hours spent scouring the library alone were replaced with days watching random movies and going on small adventures on campus with another warm body by her side.

She loved him before she even knew what love was, and for some reason, he came to love her even more—enough to risk everything for her, to be with her.

The rest was history.

"Maka?"

She blinked slowly as she returned to the present, lifting a hand to press against the surprising ache in her chest. Her eyes finally focused on Soul, who was watching her with his piercing blood red eyes—so different from Kid's, yet the same with the amount of fierce heat beneath the surface.

"You're crying," he said quietly, his voice like a whisper against all the city traffic.

"Oh." She touched her cheek and he was right; it was wet. Wiping it away hastily, Maka tried to laugh it off but it came out more like a breathy sniffle. "Sorry, I just—"

"You're worried about your friends, aren't you?"

Exhaling, Maka pulled her knees to her chest and admitted, "Yeah. I keep thinking that if something happened to them—to Kid, Liz, and Harvar—that I would know, you know? Deep in my heart." She placed a hand against her chest and bit her lip. "But what if I don't? What if something _did_ happen to them and I just don't feel it?"

"Then you'll know you're just human."

Maka stuck her tongue out childishly. "Not funny."

Soul turned the car around another store-lined street corner where the sidewalks were bustling with shopping people. Thank goodness that the windows were tinted and vampires didn't actually burn in the sun; that would've been messy. It was almost sundown now, but she'd never been gladder that stupid vampire myths were simply myths before in her life.

The only reason they were traveling by day was because most of the vampires would be traveling by night—not because they were burned by the sun, but because all vamps were strongest when the moon was up. And Soul thought it'd be best if they didn't risk running into any vampires on the road, so they took advantage of the sunlight.

Then again, they took advantage of the twilight too. Maka was sure Soul didn't stop driving unless he absolutely had to.

"You can't expect to know everything, Maka," Soul told her. "You're not an empath or a witch. Hell, you're not even a vampire."

Maka gave him a look. "I don't know if you're trying to make me feel better or worse about being human."

"Do you want my comfort or not?"

"All I want to know is that my friends are alive."

The car pulled to a stop at a red light, and Soul took the opportunity to look Maka straight in the eye. "After I make sure that you're safe with my brothers, I'll find out personally whether your friends are still alive or not. If Justin's dealing with this the way I think he will, then I should still have the connections to find out."

Her heart soared. "What way do you think Justin's dealing with this?"

Jaw tightening, Soul turned back to the road and stepped on the pedal as the light turned green. It took a moment of silence for Maka to realize that he wasn't going to answer.

"Is this another one of your secrets?" she asked, way too tired and worried to bother with being irritated. She simply sounded sad. "You know who I am, even when I don't even know myself, and yet you won't tell me a single thing about you?"

"After I make sure that you're safe with my brothers," he said again, his voice harder this time, more final, "I'll tell you everything you need to know. I promise. We're close to the safe house now, so it shouldn't be long."

Maka didn't answer. Her mind was in another world, another place, where all she could think about was that the last time Kid saw her, she'd been shoving her tongue down a bloodsucker's throat. What kind of girlfriend _did_ that? This whole mission may have been Liz's idea, but Maka had been willing—both to be the bait and to kiss Soul.

What had made butterflies flutter in her stomach before now made her feel sick. She'd never hated vampires as much as her friends had—not even when Headmaster Albarn told her to—but now she wished she did. Because maybe that would've prevented this all from happening.

Her relationship with Kid was more complicated than the entirety of the universe, but her love for him had always been simple.

Apparently, "close" had a different definition to Soul. They continued driving for a few more hours before something eventually found them—and not the other way around. If they'd been "close" like Soul said, shouldn't they have stopped already?

"Shit!"

Her mind snapped to attention at Soul's sudden use of profanity and the way the car was no longer going in the direction it had been before. It swerved in a screeching U-turn, making Maka yelp as she was tossed to the side, and the thump against the car's side was booming.

Her eyes widened as she peered through the tinted windows. They had long since passed the bustling city streets and were now traveling down a more secluded area, where the pedestrian count was significantly lower—as was the sun. They might as well have been alone at midnight with how quiet the area was.

"Did you just _hit_ someone?" Maka asked, horrified.

"Not someone," muttered Soul. "Some_thing_. Hold on tight. We just found company in the form of a creature who has reason to hate vampires more than Hunters do."

Before Maka could put the pieces together, a huge black shape hurdled itself at the windshield.

Maka didn't even have time to scream when Soul jerked the car to the left, causing the creature to narrowly avoid crashing through the fragile tinted glass. A growl rumbled through the night, loud enough that they could hear it through the walls. Soul brought the car to a screeching stop.

"Get out of the car," Soul roared. "Now!"

Scrambling to unbuckle her seatbelt, Maka barely tumbled out of the vehicle when the black shape landed on top of it, effectively collapsing the metal as if it was only a fabric tent. The car was completely demolished as the creature dug its claws into the hood. If she remained inside for another second, she would've been pancaked just like the rest of the stuff inside.

The monstrous creature snarled down at Maka, its skin rippling beneath its fur and its vibrant yellow eyes practically glowing in the growing darkness. Damn the night for coming now. Maka could've used the advantage of actually being able to see against it; now she was at a distinct _dis_advantage since this particular secluded road didn't have street lights.

Fighting werewolves was never easy.

She hadn't seen one in years. The first time had been when Headmaster Albarn negotiated with the local pack over renewing their truce, and even then she'd only witnessed the wolves in human form. She'd been able to tell because all Shifters were known for being tall and built—the kind of guy you'd see on the cover of a sports magazine.

The second time had been after a vampire raid on Gorgon Academy. Her father brought the werewolves in as reinforcements, and she'd already been in so much trouble for leaving the safety of the protected area—where underage students were supposed to remain—in favor of staking vampires. Albarn didn't even care that she'd miraculously staked seven on her own; she was grounded for months after that. Catching sight of the werewolves had been a bonus.

But whereas those Shifters had been on her side before, this werewolf was obviously not out to shake Maka's hand.

It crouched to pounce and Maka readied herself for the blow when Soul tackled the wolf from the side. It would've looked ridiculous to anyone else—a man trying to pin down the oversized wolf. But Maka knew from experience that vampires could be just as strong and fast as werewolves, despite having a less apparent size.

In this case, Soul was obviously stronger.

"Stand down, Kilik," he ordered as he forced the wolf's head against the ground. "It's Soul. I'm only here to see Wes, not to fight."

The wolf snarled, clearly not in a friendly hello, but it—_he_—seemed calmer now that he knew who the vampire was. When the Shifter stopped wracking to get away, Soul released him and got to his feet. The wolf did the same, and by the time he rose, jerking wildly against his Shift, he was a man once more. Fully clothed, too, thanks to a century old witch promise that allowed a Shifter's clothes to magically recede and reappear along with his human skin.

Or so Maka was told. Sometimes, when all you had were stories and class textbooks to go by, it was hard to separate fact from fiction.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kilik spoke words that were far from welcoming, but he didn't sound distinctly angry either—only irritated, probably because he was subdued so easily. Male pride was always one of the most unorthodox things Maka had ever seen.

He was good-looking for a guy who'd just tried to crush her in a car. Dark skin, strong jaw, and the rugged-sexy kind of vibe oozing from his well-built figure. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, but Maka knew that meant nothing for blood werewolves who stopped aging at that point. Kilik could've been centuries old.

Liz would've loved him.

"I told you," Soul said. "I'm here to see Wes."

"I wasn't informed of any appointments, and you _know_ I'm bound to attack any leech who steps foot on this land without permission."

"He must've forgotten to tell you; I actually _did_ call ahead this time."

Kilik scowled. "You know, my loyalty to your brother is the only thing keeping me from ripping your throat out right now."

Wryly, Soul said, "It's nice to see you again after all these years, too, Kilik."

Maka was fascinated. She'd never seen an actual werewolf Shift before; she'd been locked up in the Academy too long to see much else than what was permitted. Rumor was that Shifting was extremely painful yet apparently it healed the Shifter's body while he went through with it. Kind of like a double negative, if you asked Maka. It couldn't have been pleasant with how Kilik's bones had to break before Shifting, but he made it look easy.

Noticing that he was being stared at, Kilik turned his attention to Maka and looked distinctly surprised, as if he hadn't noticed her—which was ridiculous, considering he'd been ready to rip her throat out moments before. "Who's this?"

Soul spoke before she could. "Let me go to Wes and I'll tell you."

"Don't be a bastard, Soul. I know you don't like me—"

"You nearly ripped off my arm the last time I was here!"

"—but I have a right to know who's walking on my territory," he finished as if the vampire hadn't spoken. Then Kilik grinned. "You can't really hold that against me though. You were an arrogant son of a bitch even before you were knighted."

"We're on lycanthrope ground?" Maka asked, surprised. She'd been too distracted the past hour to track where they were going, but she should've noticed the moment they stepped off neutral lands and entered werewolf territory. She was trained for this kind of stuff.

Kilik raised an eyebrow. "Now I'm curious." He bent to sniff at Maka and she scowled, drawing away from his prying nose. "You don't stink like a bloodsucker does, but you're obviously not human. And you know more than a human should. What are you, little girl?"

"First off, I am _not_ a little girl," she denied adamantly. "And I guess you could say I'm not your average human. I'm a Hunter."

To her surprise, Kilik burst out laughing. Since the action made him look less intimidating—less huge, less dark, less toweringly terrifying—Maka should've appreciated it, but she only found herself being offended. "So they finally sent a Hunter to take Soul home," crowed Kilik, still shaking with laughter. "I've got to say, I didn't expect it to be someone so young. Or so pretty. Are you sure you've been doing something wrong instead of something right, Soul?"

"What is he talking about?" Maka asked, glancing between the two men in confusion.

"Shut. The. Hell. Up," Soul growled between his teeth, giving the werewolf a look that could've killed. "Either you step aside and let me find Wes, or I'll have to explain to my brother why he's one werewolf short."

"You've always been too modest for your own good," Kilik said with a grin. His amusement held such a strong contrast to his earlier hardness that Maka blinked, especially when he turned to her. "You'll be happy to know that Soul's been doing a damn good job with staying under the radar. I didn't even know what he was until Wes told me."

Maka's gaze flicked between them once more before settling on Soul, confusion clear in her green irises. "Soul? What is he talking about?"

"Wait a second, she doesn't _know_?" Kilik sounded almost as puzzled as she did. "How is that even possible? If she doesn't, then why the hell is she here?"

Soul glanced around the street, but it didn't take a vampire confirmation to verify that this part of town was as secluded as the abandoned factory they started out in. Their conversation was safe, yet still his jaw was tight. "Kilik, meet Maka Albarn," he said through clenched teeth.

Every bit of mirth died from Kilik's face. Now he didn't stare at Maka with amusement and hilarity; he looked at her as if she was a ticking time bomb ready to explode, and he didn't want to be around when it happened.

"Oh, hell no," someone said from behind her, but it wasn't Kilik. A strong arm slid around her waist, pulling her flush against a hard male body, while another hand gripped her chin and tilted her head up. Staring down at her from behind was a tall blond with glittering blood red eyes and amusement in his face. "What kind of trouble have you brought home this time, brother?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm having so much fun. I can't stop writing this. Send help.


	4. Chapter 4

"You know, I don't think I've been punched by a girl for no reason before," Wes mused as he touched the wound on his jaw thoughtfully. "At least not by one I've never met."

Maka flushed all the way from her face to her toes. "I said I was sorry!"

After a pretty unconventional reunion, Wes—Soul's oldest brother by age of conversion but his middle brother by _time_ of conversion, as well as the guy who'd grabbed Maka from behind—invited them to his home. Apparently it was a safe house, with the walls being soundproof and its location off the radar, thanks to the fact that it was on werewolf territory. And there were several witch protection spells that prevented trespassers and eavesdroppers.

Nowadays, it seemed like there were witch protection spells against everything.

No self-respecting vampire would set foot on lycanthrope grounds without permission. It wasn't just a breach of peace; it was a death wish. Because no self-respecting _werewolf_ would let a bloodsucker walk their streets of his own free will—meaning death always resulted.

Kilik had gotten over his shock at the discovery of Maka's full name, but he still refused to sit anywhere near her in the grand living room. It was kind of insulting, but it wasn't like Maka couldn't do anything about it. Soul looked as if he wished alcohol had any effect of vampires so he could drink himself senseless.

On the other hand, Wes merely laughed at Maka's guilty expression as if he thought she was the cutest thing in the world. "Don't worry," he said with good humor. "Every guy needs to get punched in the face once in a while to keep him in check. I forgive you."

The vampire looked to be in his late twenties,but—according to Soul—Wes was centuries old, turned a hundred and fifty years after Justin, the eldest. He had pale blond hair just a few shades darker than Soul's and his eyes were the same blood red color.

But even then, there was no way Maka could mistake them as actual siblings. It wasn't just that Wes said he was turned way before Soul; Wes's laid-back attitude was just too different from Soul's broodiness.

"In my defense," said Maka, "when you grab a girl from behind, you can't expect her _not_ to try to attack you." As soon as Wes had laid his hands on her, her fist had flown out of instinct before Soul could tell her that this was one of his good brothers who was going to help them.

If she hadn't been so mortified, Maka would still be relishing in the shocked look that had crossed the faces of all three boys when her fist had cracked against Wes's vampire jaw. Now she couldn't look down on Hiro for punching Soul in the club as a greeting, seeing as her instinct was identical.

Which led to something else altogether. She'd been thinking about it for a while, and the more and more she did, the more and more she had a feeling that Hiro was a rogue sort of vampire hunter—one that opted for that profession of his own free will after a vampire claimed the life of someone he loved. His grudge spoke for the explanation.

Those types were more common than she would've guessed. Many came to the Academy's doorstep, hoping to be trained, but it was rare for Headmaster Albarn to accept them. They only accepted a certain type of person, and those driven by revenge—however determined—did not always make the best candidates for successful Hunters.

Grinning now as if he'd never held a grudge in his life, Wes said, "I'll keep that in mind. Now are you two going to tell me how you met or am I going to have to guess? And let me just say that my imagination is in total overdrive."

Soul rolled his eyes. "The Academy had the idiotic idea to actually let her go out on a seducing mission and Justin happened to take me to the same bar she was hunting."

"She seduced Justin and survived?" Wes's red eyes were wide.

"No, she went after _me_. I didn't know Maka was a Hunter until she tried to stake me when we were in one of the back rooms. Then—"

His explanation was cut off by Wes's sudden roaring laughter. "Wait a second," the older blond gasped, fighting for breath through his laughs, "you're saying that this cutie seduced _you_ into wanting to sleep with her—you, the prude of all prudes—and then tried to stake you?"

Making an impatient noise under his breath, Soul muttered, "Why am I not surprised that that's the only thing you got out of that explanation?"

"Well, damn," Wes laughed, throwing his arm around her shoulder. She flinched. "Maka Albarn, you're one badass girl for getting my brother to reciprocate interest. We almost thought he was gay, except he never picked up any stray guys either. All of this is just too rich!"

"My name is _Maka_," she stressed, ducking from under his arm. "Why do you guys keep repeating my full name like that?"

"Ah. So you don't even know what you are." Wes nodded, as though he expected nothing less. "I'm not surprised. In fact, I'd even guess that you weren't even _allowed_ to go on this mission. You snuck out with your friends or something, didn't you? Maybe even to prove what you can do, since the Headmaster is probably working his ass off to keep you contained?"

Her mouth dropped open, and Wes's lips quirked up with pride.

"I _knew_ it. You're lucky we can't return you to the Academy yet, Maka; I have a feeling Spirit Albarn won't be very happy with you."

"How do you know Dad?" she asked when she finally found her voice.

Wes leaned back in his chair, reaching for a bottle of vodka from the mini-fridge next to the couch and taking a chug before answering. "I haven't met him personally, but Soul has. Right, Soul?"

Soul glowered, but his expression softened when Maka stared at him with a wounded look. He turned away. "Only once," he said tightly. "And the only reason Albarn didn't stake me on the spot was because of what I was. He only told me your name so I could protect you if need be, but I don't think he trusted me enough to ever believe that time would come."

"No way," Maka denied automatically. "It doesn't matter that I don't hate vampires, because Dad _does_—and he would rather die than trust a bloodsucker." She cringed. "No offense."

"You're saying you're not a vampire hater?" Wes asked with a raised brow.

Quickly, she ran her words through her head again and realized how that must've sounded. "Don't think that this means I trust you," Maka said firmly. "It's just that, compared to others in the Academy—who have lost so many friends and family to vampires—whatever I have against you vamps pales in comparison."

"Pales," Kilik snorted. "Are you trying to pun them to death, princess?"

"I am _not_ a princess."

"If you marry Soul, you will be," he snickered.

Maka stopped short. "What are you talking about?"

Soul glared at the werewolf and bared his fangs, the pointy edges making her shiver despite the warmth of Wes's home. "Thanks a lot, Kilik."

Shrugging, the Shifter simply pointed out, "She's going to find out eventually, and I'd rather her be pissed now rather than get angry when you try to transport her and she realizes the truth."

"Find out _what_?"

"Our boy Soul here isn't like your average vampire," Kilik answered, ignoring the deadly look that Soul was throwing him. "Neither is Wes, or Justin, or any of the other Evans brothers. How much do you know about vampire politics, princess?"

But the question was lost on Maka as soon as she heard the name _Evans_. As the daughter of Gorgon Academy's Headmaster, she was _very_ familiar with the supernatural hierarchies and the way their creatures were ruled. And she was especially knowledgeable about the current vampire queen and the band of five vampires she called her sons but acted more as her own personal assassins.

They were anonymous—blended in amongst everyone else—but their differences were indisputable. The vampire queen, known as Medusa and quite possibly the strongest vampire of all time, only personally turned six vampires herself. One of them died a hundred years ago in an incident that was said to have torn the queen up, but the other five were still alive and prospering.

They were known as the Evans brothers.

They were deadly and strong and the only vampires capable of compulsion.

They were old and powerful.

And two of them were in the same room as her right now.

It took Maka a moment to make her mouth work again, but even when she did, the next words that came out were still whispered with horror. "You guys are Queen Medusa's sons?"

Wes laughed. "You know, I don't think I'll ever get tired of that. It's seriously priceless to see people put that together before we kill them." He smiled when she paled. "Don't worry; we're not going through the patented reveal-and-kill routine with you, Maka."

"Why are you telling me this then?" she demanded, voice quivering. "Screw that—why haven't you told me before? And why the hell haven't you killed me yet? Don't you have orders to kill every Hunter on sight?" That was the reason no one from the Academy knew what the Evans brothers looked like: hardly any humans lived to learn their identity and report them.

"So many questions," Wes mused. "Haven't you heard the phrase 'curiosity kills the cat'?"

"Not if the cat is a sixteen-year-old girl who knows how to kill someone with her bare hands in twenty different ways," she retorted. "Especially if she's blonde."

"What does being a blonde have to do with it?"

"We're better at faking ignorance."

"I didn't tell you because I didn't think it mattered," answered Soul, sounding tired to have to explain it. "I needed you to trust me and you obviously weren't going to if you learned I was close to the queen."

"Of course I wouldn't!"

"Which only proves my point." His blood red eyes were deadly serious. "And I haven't killed you—nor will I let anyone else harm you—because it's my sole purpose to protect you, Maka, and I'm not letting two hundred years of preparation go to waste because things worked out more intensely than planned."

Maka was suddenly glad she was already sitting because it felt as if all the energy was just yanked from under her. Pulling her knees close to her chest, she tried to make sense of the information bomb that was just dropped. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about."

It was Wes who responded. "We may be vampire royalty, but Soul is still different from all other vampires. He wasn't raised like the rest of us. Medusa has a tendency to pick broken men off the streets for her followers—which all six of us followed—with the exception that Soul's past was manufactured."

If she hadn't been watching Soul's gaze closely, Maka would've missed the way his eyes hardened. "Did you fake being broken just so you'd be turned by the queen?" she asked, feeling sick to her stomach.

"_Hell_ no!" Soul slammed his hand against the table and she flinched at the loud bang. His hand gripped the edge so tightly that she swore she could hear the wood splintering beneath his iron grasp. But just as quickly, Soul was on his feet and storming out of the room in a blur of obvious anger and tension as he suppressed his fury.

As soon as he was gone, slamming a door behind him somewhere further in the large house, Maka shrunk back in her seat. "I'm so sorry," she whispered miserably. "I didn't know… I didn't think…"

"Don't worry about it," Wes assured her, but his smile felt less true than before. "My brother's just a little sensitive to this kind of stuff—after all, he's only been one of Medusa's for just over two hundred years now."

_Only_. She fought the urge to laugh. Of course two centuries would seem like a heartbeat to a vampire who'd already lived through a millennium. "I thought he was a newborn. He acted so uncomfortable around all those people in the club."

"That's because Soul doesn't drink as much as we do," Wes explained. "He holds himself back, and that makes his bloodlust even greater."

"Why would he do that to himself?" Maka asked, horrified. She'd seen Hunters torture vampires to go weeks without blood; she knew it wasn't pretty.

Wes shrugged. "It's complicated. At first I think it was his reluctance as a Hunter, but now it's because Medusa is fascinated by his restraint. She likes to test how far he can go, often commanding him to abstain from blood from a few days. And whenever she wants something, we have to listen."

"But…" She bit her lip. "What did I say that bothered him so much?"

"Soul may have been purposefully placed in his hell, but he still lived through it. When people assume he hasn't been through much, it makes him angry—but it completely goes against the fact that he refuses to take pity either." Wes smiled fondly. "My brother is a walking contradiction."

_Like me_. The thought flitted through Maka's mind before she could stop it. With her being an orphan and raised by the Headmaster of the Academy, she hated the pity and assumptions that came with it, too. Suddenly she felt infinitely more terrible for her words about Soul.

"Wait a second," she said as the rest of Wes's words finally caught up with her. "What did you mean when you said that Soul was 'purposefully placed in his hell'?"

A grim smile crossed his face. "He didn't grow up on the streets like the rest of us; he was _put_ there when he was a kid by his parents."

"What?" Maka exclaimed. "What kind of awful parents would do that?"

Wes met her eyes with sudden focus. "_Hunter_ parents. They were trained at Gorgon Academy, and Soul was one trial experiment of many to get a prepared Hunter into the inside lines of the vampire kingdom—and he was the only one who succeeded."

* * *

Soul was lying on the bed in his guest bedroom—the one Wes had always reserved for him—when there was a knock on the door. He didn't have to ask who it was. Only two days after he met her and he already had her heartbeat memorized, as well as her scent, and the way her petite body walked in light but purposeful footsteps.

"Can I come in?" she asked tentatively through the door.

"No."

The door creaked open and he inwardly sighed. He should've known that Hunter stubbornness knew no limits. Sitting up, Soul opened his mouth to tell her to leave him alone when his eyes locked onto her.

God, she was beautiful. Since he was lying in darkness, the lights from the hallway illuminated Maka from behind, making her glow like some kind of beautiful angel sent to grant redemption for his sins.

His jaw clenched. There would be no redemption for a guy like him—not after the things he'd done.

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice sounding more tired than angry like he wanted it to.

"Wes told me—"

"I heard." As soon as his vampire hearing picked up on his older brother relaying his horrible sob story of a past, Soul had tuned out. He didn't want to hear the pity in her voice when Maka figured out what a mess he truly was. "Did you get all the juicy details you wanted?" he asked darkly. "I'm sure Wes made it interesting—he's great at telling stories."

Surprisingly, she shook her head. "He offered to speak; I declined."

"What?" Soul asked, suddenly more alert. "Why?"

"Because if I wanted someone to know my past, I'd tell them my own damn self." When he merely stared at her in shock, the corner of her lips curved upward. Then she glanced around the room, the only small indication that she was still shy to enter. "Can I come in?"

"You're a Hunter; it's not like you'll listen to me anyways," he said dryly.

Maka let out a small laugh. "You really do know what we're like, don't you?"

She took one step into the room, as if testing to make sure he wouldn't throw her out, before her shoulders relaxed and she walked all the way in. Soul tensed, expecting her to come close and maybe try and sit on the bed next to him. But instead, she crossed the room and claimed the chair by his desk.

Soul watched the tiny girl's graceful movements settle and waited for her to speak. Most people grew uncomfortable where they weren't sure they were wanted, especially if it was silent. Maka… was not. She simply took the time straightening her clothes then looked up and smiled at him, the kind of smile that was genuine yet nothing more. She didn't force conversation, didn't try to make him talk.

Nothing about her said she was uncomfortable—or afraid.

"What are you doing here?" Soul asked finally, breaking the uncomfortably comfortable silence when it became too much.

Pausing, she tucked a lock of her blond hair behind her ear. "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

Every muscle in his body tensed. "I don't want your pity—"

"I'm not talking about your past," she interrupted. "I'm talking about what I said. I had no right to make assumptions about you, especially when you've only done everything in your power to protect me. Being edgy is no excuse for how I treated you. I wasn't being fair."

"_You're_ apologizing to _me_?" Just when Soul thought this couldn't get any more bizarre. "_I'm_ the one who acted like a pessimistic asshole to you."

Maka grinned. "Is that your way of saying you're sorry?"

He paused. "Did you set that up so I'd admit I was being a dick?"

"Nope," she chirped cheerfully in the manor of someone who was lying and didn't care.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Soul muttered, "You're the most devious, conniving, beautiful girl I've ever met."

Her breath caught. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Did you just miss the part where I insulted you? And besides, you can't lie and tell me you didn't know. You wouldn't have been flaunting yourself in that club—in that _outfit_—if you didn't think you could pull it off."

Maka shrugged, unperturbed. "Missions have a way of giving you confidence."

"And dressing like a prostitute?"

"What, and you're saying that you would've been lured in if I hadn't been showing that much skin?" She laughed. "We have to be realistic, Soul. The outfit was the bait, not me."

_I would've_, he thought, then automatically hated himself for thinking the words. But it was the truth. After all, it hadn't been her act that drew him in; he'd seen through it the moment she walked in the club. And Soul had every intention of turning her away—just like he'd ignored every other girl who approached him in a bar—until the moment he saw her true innocence shining through.

It had drawn him like a moth to a flame. Innocence wasn't something Soul saw often—less so in a club where everyone had selfish desires. Naivety was popular, sensuality was a given, and desire was in everyone… but innocence? Maka had tried to hide it behind confidence, but Soul could see it every time her pale skin flushed when they made innuendoes and her heart beat fast at his scorching stares.

"Wait a second," Maka said suddenly, bringing him back to the present. "If you were a Hunter, you should've known about this trick. It's been a little altered since the olden days, but the baiting intension is the same. And you were surprised when Kid let me kiss you for the mis—" She stopped and flushed when she realized what she was saying.

"The olden days?" he echoed with a raised brow. "I'm not that old."

She snorted. "You've been alive—or undead or whatever—for two hundred years. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as being ancient, Soul."

"I wasn't surprised because I didn't know that stupid Hunter trick," he said. "I was surprised that your boyfriend _let_ you. Even if my girl could've caught twenty vamps by pretending to hook up with some bloodsuckers, I never would've stood by and let it happen. I'm too damn selfish that way."

Soul could hear Maka's heart speed up. "How long?" she asked after a moment of silence, biting her lip. "How long were you a Hunter for? And how were you chosen by Queen Medusa?"

His trademark wryness returned. "Finally done stalling and going straight for the big guns, huh?"

"Bullshit," Maka said, anger tingeing her usual calm. "You know I'm curious, but I don't care if you don't want to tell me—that's your decision, so you can decline. But don't you dare act like my curiosity is the only reason I would ever be talking to you."

God. How could one girl possibly be so infuriating yet still take his breath away? "Why do you even believe me?" he asked. "I could be lying about my past as a Hunter to get you to trust me."

"But you're not."

"Yeah, because my word is always true," he said sarcastically.

Maka stopped, her green eyes growing impossibly larger, and stared at him. "What did you do?"

"What?" Soul had no idea where the conversation was going. It was as if this girl had a switch for her anger, and suddenly now that hers was off, he found it impossible to retain his own.

"You're guilty about something," she said knowingly, searching his eyes. "What is it?"

He laughed sharply to hide his growing unease. "You think you know everything, don't you? That's another Hunter trait."

"Soul." Her voice was firm yet soft. "What secret are you keeping that's hurting you so much?"

"My entire existence is a secret, and you want me to point out individuals to you?" He scoffed. "It's going to take much more than a few minutes to narrow down all the lies I've told."

Understanding set in her expression and he hated it on sight. Soul didn't want this beautiful, bright girl to be aware of the dark mystery that was his past; he didn't want to taint her blinding light with the clichéd shadows that followed him around. He'd learned early on that people getting close to him only got hurt.

And people who tried to comprehend were only eliminated.

"That wasn't your choice and you know it," Maka told him earnestly. "You were probably scouted before you were born, right? That's the only way I can guess the Hunters would do this."

She took his silence as a "yes."

"And think of how much you're probably helping others with the information you gather from inside! Soul, I may not know the whole story but I'm aware of enough to know that the Academy wouldn't send you out for some bogus reason. You must be doing something of _purpose_—"

"Stop talking like you understand!" he burst out furiously. "You say that like the Academy are the good guys, but you don't get how they could be just as cruel as all the bloodsuckers out there!"

Maka's eyes fell shut as she sucked in a harsh breath. For a moment, he thought he offended her. Then she whispered, "They tortured you." It wasn't a question, but the words were breathy like she was hoping they weren't true.

"Yes." Soul should've shut up right there—he should've stopped talking long ago—but for some odd reason, he just couldn't stop. "The Hunters chose me to be a vampire spy before I was even born. I can't even remember a time before my life was all about training. The Academy grilled me with information, and techniques, and ways to beat those who were bigger than me. Every day was a test; they'd attack me randomly just to show that I wasn't strong enough yet. My body was always scarred.

"And to teach me loyalty," he continued darkly, "the Academy made damn sure I was prepared to take all my secrets—and theirs—to the grave. They locked me up, collared with me with electric shocks, and beat me until I could barely remember my name. They said that if I was ever caught in the act, vampires would try to torture information out of me… and I would have to learn to stand it. Being turned into a vampire may have gotten rid of my scars, but I will _never_ forget."

When Maka opened her eyes again, her eyes were glistening with tears.

That struck him harder than any beating ever had. Crossing the room in an instant, he kneeled in front of her and asked wildly, "Why are you crying?"

She blinked as if she hadn't known that tears were starting to fall down her cheeks then started to hastily wipe them away. Soul caught her hands before she could—like he was preventing her from erasing the evidence, even as they made his nonexistent heart clench.

"I shouldn't have told you that," he said regretfully. "That wasn't fair of me. I know the Academy isn't all bad; I wouldn't have stayed loyal to them all this time if I did. But—"

"No, that's not…" She took a deep breath to steady herself. Her eyes glistening eyes flickered down to his hands, still encasing her wrists, and he automatically let go. Then she exhaled in one breath, "They put me in the basement, too."

All the warmth whooshed out of his body. "The Academy tortured you like they did to me?" Fury struck him quickly at the confirming haunted look in Maka's eyes. "Why the fuck would they do that? They're supposed to be _protecting_ you, damn it, not _hurting_ you!"

Maka's gaze fell to her hands, now playing with the edge of her shirt on her lap. "Dad said he went to see a witch psychic when he found me. I think he wanted to figure out what I was before he took me in."

Soul knew for a fact that Spirit Albarn knew exactly what Maka was before he even saw her for the first time; it was part of the bargain he'd made. But Soul stayed let her finish.

"Dad didn't tell me the whole story, but he said that part of the psychic's prediction was that my future included being locked up in an underground dungeon. The witch didn't know when or where, just that I would be hurting. So the Academy officials stuffed me in the basement and taught me how to bear it so I could handle it in the future with my pride intact."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Soul said, barely able to stop from grabbing the bed and chucking it out the window.

She cracked a smile. "I know. But wasn't it the same for you?"

"That's—" _Different_, he was going to say, but it really wasn't and he knew it. It just killed him to think that Maka—as tiny and bright and sweet as she was—going through the same torture that he had. Taking a deep breath, he gritted out, "How old were you?"

She hesitated. "The first time? Six."

_The first time. Six_. The words vibrated through his brain like a ticking bomb on the brink of explosion. "How many times were you in the basement?" he asked in a voice as cold as dry ice. Fierce protectiveness gripped him. It was ridiculous considering he'd only known her for two days, but the urge to kill was unmistakable.

Silence.

"Damn it, Maka, answer me—"

"Eleven."

The table went flying. One second, the desk counterpart to the chair Maka was sitting on was beside them, and the next—it wasn't. It crashed into the wall, splintering into many small wooden pieces that clanged with their own bang of fury. The shadowed walls all looked red to him—_red, red, red, red_—and he wanted to run all the way to the Academy just to hurt who'd hurt _her_.

"Soul! _Hey_." Maka gripped his arms before he could fight her, and even though he could've ripped away her tiny grip in a second, he didn't. "I'm okay, you know. They hurt me but they didn't break me. They _couldn't_, because it doesn't matter how small I am—I am not weak." She smiled darkly. "Besides, I deserved it the first few times. I ran away from the Academy and punishment was in order."

There was something off about her words, as if she was holding back something huge, but all Soul could process was the sight of her still-damp cheeks. "But you're _crying_—"

"The only reason I was crying just now was because I hate thinking they did that to you too."

Realization hit him like a one thousand pound boulder. "Your scars. They're from your time underground."

Her lack of answer spoke better than words ever could.

Almost shaking with murder, he asked, "Did you cry when you were in the basement?"

"No," she answered without hesitation, and for some reason, he believed her. "The Academy officials wouldn't have let me out if I did."

"And your adoptive father just let it happen?"

"It was his idea. Don't think less of Dad because of it though; everything he does, he does to protect me." But Soul could see the way her eyes tightened as she said the words. Before he could comment, she pressed a hand to his forehead and frowned. "You know, you're so damn warm for a vampire."

"It's a stupid witch trick," he said quickly, stepping back from her touch. His cheeks burned, and he cured the 'stupid witch trick' for allowing his embarrassment to be visible as well. One of the downsides of being a vampire prince was that all of Queen Medusa's favorite enchantments were also bestowed on them—and the woman had a fascination for human emotion.

Maka's frown deepened. "Is it a witch spell that lets you live without a heart too?"

"Yeah." He didn't offer any more details, and thankfully she didn't ask. She seemed to recognize that he was more unwilling to talk about this bit of information than his recruitment into Queen Medusa's inner circle in the first place.

"Soul, can I ask you a question?"

"You're already asking one."

She rolled her beautiful green eyes, thankfully now without tears. Then she grew still. "How did Queen Medusa find you? I know that the vampire queen would _never_ choose a former Hunter to take in as one of her own, and I also know that she'd do an extensive background check before trusting anyone. That must mean…"

"I was activated early?" he finished. "You're right. I was only ten when they stuck me on the streets with nothing but the clothes on my back, a couple dollars in my pocket, and only enough knowledge to keep me alive but not prosper. For nine years, I lived on my own. If not for other homeless kids that I befriended along the way, I wouldn't have survived the first month."

Soul watched as horror settled across Maka's fair features. "Weren't there foster care systems that would take you in?"

He shook his head. "The Academy Officials trained me to avoid them. They said that I need to attract the attention of the vampire queen, and she would only be looking for beautiful _broken_ toys—not _pitiful_ ones. And showing my worth by surviving on the streets was better proof than being another orphan in the system."

"That's…"

Suddenly Soul stepped back. The word-vomit was over and so was the urge to spill every damned secret he ever kept. Clenching his jaw, he pushed back the continuation of his explanation, knowing that the next part of this tragic story would only make things worse. "I should go."

"Go? Where?" Maka blinked in confusion, as if she was yanked from the same haze that he was.

"I promised you that I'd go make sure your friends were okay as soon as I knew you were safe under the care of my brothers, didn't I? Despite what people think of vampires, I never break my promises." Soul retreated another step. "Wes will protect you, and my other brother—Clay—should be here soon, too."

"Wait!" Maka said. "None of the other Evanses had been raised as Hunters like you, right? Then how can you trust them?"

"Years of being brothers means more than a title," was Soul's answer. "At least between some of us."

"Wait," she said again, more hesitantly this time, almost shy in comparison to her earlier candor. "Thank you for telling me. I know how much it must've cost you to share this—and there must be so much more you still aren't revealing—but I wanted to say that… Well, I _do_ trust you. For a vampire at least," she added with a smile. "That's what you were going for, right?"

"I wasn't saying that just so you'd trust me."

"I know. Otherwise I would've been able to see through your bullshit." Maka laughed lightly. "One more question: Will you say why it has to be me? Why I'm the one you kidnapped, and not any other girl or Hunter in the world?"

"Because you're Maka Albarn," Soul said simply, as if it meant something to her—and maybe it should have. "Just like I was, you were chosen before you were born. You just don't know it yet."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Why do I love Wes so much? He has a mind of his own and keeps taking over the next few chapters, much to Soul's dismay. Crazy boys. Gotta love them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ten years ago… **

"_Are you lost?" _

_Six-year-old Maka looked up to see a dark-haired man standing near her. He probably wasn't that tall—maybe just over six feet—but to the tiny little blonde, he was practically a giant. It was almost December and snow was gently beginning to coat the night streets. She'd been wandering them alone for the past hour, wondering how long it would take for her adoptive father to notice she was gone. _

_Spirit Albarn would definitely be angry that she ran away, and that he would find her was inevitable. The only question was _when_. _

_Staring deeply into the dark man's eyes, she could make out the red undertone in his irises and managed to put together the pieces, even with her naivety. "You're a vampire," she said matter-of-factly. _

_The man smiled wryly. "Not one to beat around the bush, are you? Come along now." _

"_I'm not allowed to go anywhere with vampires." Maka paused. "I'm also not allowed to talk to them. Dad said you guys were evil, and that all you wanted was death, blood, and my heart to stop beating." She paused again. "I think I'm supposed to stake you, but I don't know how. Dad never tells me anything." _

_He chuckled. "You're very crude for someone so young. Quite obviously someone raised with Hunter beliefs. What is your name, little girl?" _

"_Maka Albarn," she replied automatically. _

_His eyes widened. "Well, shit. I can't believe I'm standing in front of the infamous Maka Albarn and I didn't even know it!" Before she could question his knowledge, he held out a hand. "I'm Bartholomew, but everyone calls me Sid. It's nice to meet you."_

_She frowned at him. "I'm cold, and wet, and hungry—and you're a vampire. I honestly can't say the same about you."_

_Throwing his head back, Sid let out a loud laugh that echoed throughout the night. It startled her; out of all the stories of vampires she'd been told, she never once heard how human a vampire's laugh sounded. "You know what, Maka?" he said with a grin. "I like you. Let me buy you some dinner and then I'll return you to the Academy. That's where you live, right? Or so the legend goes."_

"_I'm not allowed to—"_

"_You already broke one rule by talking to me," he pointed out gently, offering his hand to the little girl again. "What's the harm in breaking another? I promise you I won't hurt you." _

_Maka stared at his hand with her wide, childlike eyes. Despite growing up in the Academy where many teens resided twenty-four/seven, this was almost like her first contact with someone other than her dad. She was kept secluded and alone; she'd never been outside the Gorgon Academy walls before. And she wasn't even allowed to train with the other Hunters yet, considering she was so much younger than the rest of them. _

_Headmaster Albarn probably did it to protect her. But sometimes ignorance could be more dangerous than the truth, because Maka didn't know any better and that was why she ended up taking Sid's outstretched hand. _

* * *

Maka stopped pretending to sleep when she heard the sound of arguing coming from downstairs.

She sat up in bed, slightly disoriented as she untangled herself from the soft silk sheets. Even though she hadn't actually fallen asleep and was still virtually aware of everything, her mind was foggy with fatigue and stress. The impact of the reality nearly stole her breath away.

After her heart-to-nonexistent-heart with Soul, he'd told her to take a nap while he sorted some things out. Of course Maka was reluctant, but he managed to coax her into resting by saying she'd be useless if she was tired anyways. His logic and sincerity made it impossible to look into his face and tell him to back the hell off. Besides, they both knew she needed to rest.

If only he knew how complicated her sleeping habits were.

Feeling her inner darkness grow more imminent, she pushed back all worries about the holes in Soul's story—his secrets regarding his connection to her, his reluctance to trust, and her concern for the safety of her friends. His story affected her more than she could understand. And on top of that, his dedication to his promise made it infinitely more impossible to hate him.

_Damn_. If only she hadn't run into Sid when she was six; hadn't already been planted with the seed that not all vampires could be bad. Things would be so much easier if she wasn't so willing to trust bloodsuckers.

On the bright side, her first meeting with Sid was the only reason her father had decided to amp up her training years before schedule. Even though she simply shared laughs and food with Sid, Albarn had been furious when the vampire returned Maka back to the Academy.

Sid had been killed on the spot.

That night, Maka had run to her room and cried her heart out after seeing the vampire be turned to dust before her eyes. She was only six and she may have been naïve, but she'd _known_ that Sid hadn't been evil like her father claimed all vampires were. The next morning, Albarn and the other Academy officials locked her up in the basement as punishment for running away.

They must've thought it would have stopped her from trying again, but it only pushed her to crave freedom even more.

It wasn't until she'd met Kid that she stopped running.

Now, as Maka walked back towards the living room and stretched her muscles out from her feigned rest, Kilik and Soul's argument reached her ears before she saw them.

"You can't stop me, Kilik," growled Soul. "I promised her I would check if her friends were alive, and I'm not going to break that promise. It will only take a few hours. You guys should be able to protect her until I get back."

"Think about what you're about to do," Kilik warned lowly. "Justin must be _livid_. I have a feeling that he hasn't announced that you've gone rogue yet since Medusa hasn't sent her minions to clean up your body, but he must be waiting to get his hands on you again—maybe even with Maka's friends as bait. You can't go back; it's way too risky."

His eyes darkened. "I don't need to listen to you, mutt."

"The hell you don't!"

They didn't even look up from their argument when Maka walked into the room. She spotted Wes, lounging on the couch lazily with a glass of booze in one hand and an inviting smile on his face. He tipped his head to her as she sat down beside him. "Want a drink?" he offered.

Maka studied the tumblr. "What is it?"

"Vodka."

"Ugh." She made a face. "I've had too much alcohol for a lifetime."

"Right, from your little escapade with my brother," Wes said, grinning widely. "You know, I'm still having wild interpretations of how you managed to get Soul into bed with you. One of them includes chocolate and handcuffs…"

"I'm not even going to ask."

"You're just being stubborn!" Kilik was yelling at Soul on the other side of the room, a murderous rage in his eyes. "I'm not going to let you be the reason why my territory is raided by all of Justin's minions!"

"Hey," Maka protested, jumping back to her feet protectively. She wobbled slightly but covered it with taking another step forward. "Stop yelling at him. He didn't do anything wrong." To Soul, she said, "If it's too dangerous, you don't have to go. I understand, you know. I know it must be risky."

"_Thank_ you," Kilik muttered. "At least someone has common sense around here."

Soul merely looked at Maka. "I promised you—"

"And I appreciate it—_really_. But I don't want you guys to get hurt or attacked or hindered because of me." Maka bit her lip. "I… People have already died because of me in the past. I don't want to be the reason you get hurt now."

"We'll send some other people," Soul said after a moment of silence. "Close friends that I trust. They'll go back to the scene of the crime and call us as soon as they find out what the hell happened when we left."

"That's what I've been saying all along," Kilik exclaimed, and both Maka and Soul shot him deadly looks. "What? It's true. But if it makes you feel any better, I'll make the calls so you two can figure out what the hell you're going to do from here."

"We can't take you back to the Academy," said Soul firmly once the werewolf was gone. "Not yet. If Justin has it figured out—and I wouldn't doubt that he did—then that's the first place he'll have watched. Chances are that he'll launch an attack on the Academy the moment he knows you're inside or he'll intercept us on the way."

_Then where will I go?_ The thought pushed everything else from her mind, making her scramble to find another option. Maka didn't have any family outside of the Academy, nor did she have many friends that weren't still in school because of the secluded way she'd been raised. But it wasn't as if she could remain with these vampires.

"Stay here with us."

Maka's gaze found Wes, who was leaning back against the couch with his trademark grin on his face.

"What?" he asked. "You have to admit that it's not that bad of a deal. We may be vampires, but we know how to keep it entertaining—and I promise it won't include blood." He paused then added devilishly, "Unless you want it to, of course."

"You wouldn't be safer anywhere else in the world," Soul agreed. "Not even in the Academy. As long as I'm bound to protect you—"

"And what happens when you're not?" she interrupted, her gaze defiant and unafraid in lieu of her words.

"My vow isn't something you can turn on and off, Maka. The instinct to protect the lives of those like you was ingrained in my brain before I knew I was being trained. If I abandon my purpose, then what the hell have I been living for all these years?"

"Those like me?" she echoed. "As in Hunters?"

Soul's smile was a sight to behold. "Besides, if you tried to sneak out the window, we'd just catch you and bring you back."

"You know, taking away my choices doesn't exactly make the idea more appealing. No self-respecting girl wants to be caged against her will."

"Hey, we can come up with some pretty fun role play ideas with that," Wes said suggestively, his voice lifted in a way that left little to the imagination.

Rolling her large green eyes, she said, "Keep dreaming, buddy."

"Can I dream that you're staying for a while longer? Or is that going to be a reality?" His words were teasingly sweet, but Maka could sense that he was truly curious to whether or not she'd stay. From the way Wes glanced briefly at Soul, she knew that it was more for his brother's benefit than his—but even that was enough to shake her.

How could he stand to protect a reminder of his horrible Hunter past? Soul obviously didn't trust the Hunters anymore, but he'd said he couldn't tell her why Headmaster Albarn was involved with appointing Soul's protection. If he didn't give her details soon, she was going to start coming to her own wild conclusions.

And Kid… Kid was another story. To an outsider, Maka must've looked heartless for brushing aside his possible death—but no one could understand the bond between them that she could still barely understand herself. No one could understand how it was more than their hearts that were connected.

"Do you have any food?" Maka asked finally, passing both Evans brothers as she walked in the direction she remembered had led to the kitchen. When they didn't follow, she glanced over her shoulder. "What? If I'm going to stay for a while—and just a few days, until I figure this whole damn thing out—I need something to eat."

"Do you trust us?" Soul called out as she turned away.

She paused, not turning around, and whispered her response knowing that they could hear her anyways. "I'm willing to try."

* * *

"MAKA, _DON'T_!"

Wes was across the room in an instant, yanking the eggbeater from her hands before she could turn it on. His eyes were so wild with disapproval that Maka laughed out loud, using her thumb to brush away the streak of red from his cheek. "You have spaghetti sauce on your face," she said, tongue in cheek.

The look he gave her was foul. Shaking the device he'd taken from her, Wes practically roared, "You don't use the eggbeater on high for a thick mix like banana bread! It would be tougher than fucking rubber."

As Wes grabbed the bowl of batter and stalked away, muttering, "I have to do everything myself," under his breath, Maka looked over at Soul and shared a silent laugh.

"Is he always like this?" she whispered in amusement, watching Wes expertly fold the bread mix in one hand while he set the oven timer with the other.

"Worse," Soul answered. He gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, he practically mauled me the first time I tried to cook in his kitchen too. Wes doesn't seem to understand that our Hunter training never included home ec. The only thing that makes his kitchen protectiveness tolerable is the fact that his food always tastes sensational."

"Don't forget that I'm lactose intolerant," she called out when Wes prepared to pour the last of the ingredients into the mix. "No milk please—not unless you want to see me in a very embarrassing state."

"I can't believe you're actually allergic to milk," Soul said with a shake of his head.

"Why? It's not that unusual of an allergy."

"Not that. It's just… I thought that it was part of your cover story in the club. You know, to make conversation."

An understanding smile lifted the corners of her mouth.

When Maka had said she was hungry, she was just thinking about snacking on some chips to fill her up. But Wes wouldn't allow it; he said junk food was practically banned in his house, and when she saw the kitchen, she understood why. The huge modern was shockingly stocked with more equipment than she'd ever seen on any cooking show in her entire life.

According to Soul, cooking was Wes's favorite vampire hobby. The older vamp had grown up in a home of nine children where there was never enough food to eat, so once he was turned and Medusa allowed him whatever he wanted, the first thing he did was learn to cook. And now, centuries later, he never stopped.

It was a huge realization to Maka, knowing that Wes had been deprived as a child just like Soul. It made her wonder how much she really knew about them at all—about _any_ of them at all.

To prepare for dinner, they'd split up the jobs: Soul would season appetizers, Wes would make the main-course pasta, and Maka would bake the dessert. It seemed like a good idea at first, but Wes never would've anticipated that one of their team members would be physically challenged with detailed instructions, considering her entire life had been improvisational hands-on.

She'd never realized how bad she was with a spoon before in her life.

Maka wiped her hands on her borrowed apron that revealed more than it covered, therefore proving it as one of Wes's collection. "When you said your emotions—and obsessions—as a vampire are heightened, you weren't kidding."

A long beep sounded from the third oven, signifying the completion of the baked shrimp. When Soul expertly pulled them out without using gloves, Maka imitated twirling around like a girl and fluttering her eyelashes. He grinned. "This is nothing. Wait until you see how my other brother reacts when he's watching his soap operas."

"You're lucky you can still eat food, contrary to the many stories about vampires that say you can't. And that your vampire metabolism prevents you from ever getting fat."

"Yeah?" Soul glanced down at himself. "And here I thought I was putting on a few extra pounds. Thanks, Maka. You're great for my esteem."

Shoving his shoulder playfully with one hand, she spun around the counter, earning a "Don't spill anything!" from Wes as he finished spooning the bread batter into the pan. "So what's your obsession then?" she asked Soul with a challenging eyebrow. "Justin has killing people, Wes has cooking, your other brother has soap operas—"

"Hey, they're not soap operas," said a new voice from the doorway. "They're just very well-directed dramas that happen to be very popular with elderly women."

All three people in the room swerved to look at the arriving person, who grinned at them in response.

"Oh hey, Maka. Long time no see. Sorry I'm a little late, but the traffic was a bitch."

_Holy. _

_Crap_.

Maka was stunned. She _knew_ this new guy. She'd met him once before, four years back, when the Academy was being raided by a vampire attack. Headmaster Albarn had commanded her to stay in her room, keeping her away from the danger since she was only twelve at the time, and it worked… until one vampire climbed through her window to talk to her.

"Clay?" Maka asked, not knowing how else to respond.

Soul's head snapped towards her. "You know my brother?"

"Not really," she said at the same time Clay announced, "I fell in love with Maka four years ago."

"Shut up—you did not!" To everyone else, she said quickly, "He's lying. I only met him once, and that was when he and a group of his vampire friends tried to invade the Academy." She narrowed her eyes accusingly. "You never told me you were an Evans brother!"

"You never asked," was Clay's cheeky response. His young eyes looked ecstatic, just as she'd always remembered him to be. "I can't believe you're actually here! I was just remembering our first meeting. It was very _Romeo and Juliet_-ish, with me climbing the balcony to your bedroom and you wearing something pretty—"

"They were pyjamas!"

"Very sexy, very gorgeous pyjamas," he corrected, then ducked when she threw one of the kitchen pots at him. It landed on the floor with a clang. "Ah. I also remember you throwing a shoe at my head when I first came into your room. You were so adorably flustered, how could I _not_ fall in love with you?"

"Of course I was flustered—I was twelve and you kept shooting innuendoes at me!"

"Twelve and too innocently cute for words," Clay teased. "I still remember how shocked you were after I kissed you."

Maka stared at him. Compared to the others, Clay—apparently another Evans brother—definitely looked the youngest. He was probably sixteen or seventeen when he was turned, around Maka's age. Added to the fact that he had a very baby-cute face and a sweet attitude, Maka had to admit that Clay would've been a ladies' favorite if he'd gone to school.

But four years ago, after Clay had teased her to no end and wouldn't let her stake him, he'd announced his love for her with a laugh at how flushed she was, stolen her first kiss, then ducked out of the window before she could respond. _Of course_ she held a grudge against him.

Raising an eyebrow, Wes glanced between his arriving brother and Maka then roared with laughter. "Man, this just keeps getting better! I'm starting to think I'm the only blond Evans who hasn't kissed Maka yet." He seemed in much better spirits now that he'd finished putting the bread in the oven.

Soul was not as amused. "Clay, what the hell did you do?"

The brother under questioning smiled sheepishly. "Well, after you told us about the girl you were sworn to protect, I was curious. I'd already been coming up with a ploy to meet Maka when I heard that some of Medusa's goons were planning an attack on Gorgon Academy, so I took the chance to sneak in with them to see her while protecting Maka at the same time. You'll be happy to know that I killed nineteen of them before playing Romeo in her bedroom."

_Nineteen? No way._ From that particular raid, Maka recalled that her fellow Hunter classmates had killed a total of thirty vampires that day while losing six of their own. If Clay hadn't been there to kill those nineteen… Who knew how much larger the Hunter fatality rate would've been then?

"You idiot," Soul hissed. "I didn't tell you so you could just jump in whenever you wanted!"

"Sorry, Soul, but I regret nothing." He shrugged. "Medusa might've gotten her hands on Maka then if I hadn't been there, and I wouldn't have met the most interesting twelve-year-old in my life."

As Maka flushed, Soul denied, "Medusa would never have tried to collect Maka before she was ready—and that's _if_ she knew about her. These vampires must've been rogue, because I can't see our mother issuing that command."

"How would they have known about Maka?" Clay countered.

His eyes tightened. "Maybe they weren't after her. Maybe they just wanted to attack the home of the future's best vampire hunters. You of all people should know that her name and location are classified information."

"Sorry to interrupt this very fun family argument," said Kilik, surprising Maka with his discreet entrance, "but I just have to ask: What the hell did you mean when we have bigger problems to worry about, Clay?"

"Oh yeah." The teen vampire perked up, remembering the reason he burst into the room the way he did. Maka thought it made him look even more innocent than he already did—for a vampire, of course. "I just got word from a few friends on my way here, and they said that there's going to be another tournament tonight. And they want us there."

Just when Maka thought he couldn't have gotten any broodier, Soul's expression of sudden indignation took her off guard. "_Hell_ no. We don't have time for that now!"

"You can't say no, Soul. Everyone's going to know something's up."

"Clay's right," seconded Kilik. "The rumor mills would've already been off the top if they knew what was actually going on, so I think that must mean that Justin hasn't disclosed anything yet. Knowing your evil mastermind of a brother, I'm guessing he's seeing last night as a defeat and is waiting for his chance to win before he tells Medusa that he found Maka Albarn—and before the rest of the supernatural world learns about Maka as well."

"Which is all the more reason to stay away from the spotlight until we're sure we can protect her," Soul argued. "We don't know how many people Justin has told; all we know is that he must've figured out who Maka was and that he would never settle with being beaten."

"You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here, you know," Maka muttered.

"Don't worry, I don't think I could ever forget you were in the room," assured Clay with a wink.

Soul growled lowly. "Don't make me hurt you, Clay."

"I think we should go," said Wes thoughtfully. When Soul opened his mouth to protest, he insisted, "No, _listen_. I think we should go so we can find out what Justin's next move will be. He'll discern that you'll be there tonight and might make a move. But even though I don't think he will—because we all know Justin won't take the chance unless he knows he's going to come out victorious, and there hasn't been enough time for him to guarantee that—if he does attempt an attack, we'll figure out his game plan, get the hell out of there, and find a better way to protect Maka."

"We're not going to risk Maka's life based on your _instincts_."

"You could go and leave her here with the rest of us," Wes suggested. When Soul's eyes darkened even more, his older brother smiled. "That's what I thought."

"What is this tournament thing anyways?" Maka asked, intrigued. She'd been watching Soul argue with his brothers and she could sense much more beneath his refusal to put her in danger. He either didn't want to go at all or he did and was ashamed of it. Whatever the reason, she found herself wanting to know every dark secret of Soul's past after learning how complicated his life had been before.

"Think of it as a supernatural fighting competition," Clay supplied, his eyes sparkling. "Vamps, weres, witches, fey, and the whole lot—all together in one place for a semi-friendly sparring tournament. It's orchestrated by psychic witches so each one takes place in a different arena at a random time. Nobody knows when or where each one is until about three hours before each fight."

Maka frowned. "I've never heard of these before."

"Well, duh. It's not like we'd go advertising them to you Hunter snobs," Clay said pointedly. "No offense."

"And why do you guys have to go? They're not mandatory for Evans brothers, are they?"

This time it was Wes who answered, laughing deeply. "God, no. We go because Soul is the raving champion and everyone gets pissy if they don't get the chance to challenge him."

"You're the _champion_?" she asked, stunned.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," muttered Soul.

"It was the funniest damn thing I ever saw." Clay laughed and proceeded to recite the story for Maka. "Soul didn't even want to be there. I guess one of the competitors sensed that because he challenged Soul to a fight—and you can never say no to a challenge, as per the rules. You should've seen the look on the guy's face after my brother knocked him onto his back in five seconds flat."

"It was more than five seconds," Soul disagreed, looking down in a way that made Maka certain he didn't like the attention.

Clay grinned to humor him. "Sure, bro, it was more like ten. Anyways, after that, people started to challenge Soul and they always lost. He became an actual contender quickly and now everyone always looks forward to his fights. That's why they'll notice if he isn't there, and they'll start to ask questions—which might just lead to answers we can't afford for them to have."

Maka squinted at Soul. He wasn't bodybuilder huge, nor was he extremely tall and built like a tank. Instead, he was more lean muscle and subtle dangerousness that came mostly from his infamous glare—though she knew for a fact that he was hiding definition under his shirt. But when you were a vampire, she guessed that you didn't have to look the part to be stronger than the Hulk.

"No matter how long you stare, it's not going to change anything," Soul told her with a wry look.

His flippancy bothered her. "I nearly kicked your ass back at the club, and I'm pretty sure I could take you again now," she warned.

He snorted. "The only reason you got the better hand was because I was caught off guard and I didn't actually want to hurt you."

"Liar. You didn't even know I was _Maka Albarn_—" She put a sarcastic emphasis on her name, imitating how they always used it. "—when we were fighting."

"Is that really the only reason you think I wouldn't want you hurt?"

"Hey!" she heard Clay protest when her eyes locked with Soul's, her heart speeding up in her chest and the warmth of his gaze burning into her like a flame. "Is there something going on here? Because I totally called dibs on Maka four years ago, even though none of you were around to hear it."

"I'll explain later." The amusement in Wes's voice contrasted greatly with Clay's pouting confusion. "Right now, we need to decide whether or not we're going to this damn event or not. I say we take it to a vote—in which case I say _hell yes_, we should definitely attend."

"Yes," Clay chimed in quickly.

"Yes," Kilik said in turn.

Maka blinked to extract herself from the hold of Soul's gaze, pressing a hand against her heart as if to calm the furious beating with a touch. But while she was no longer stunned into silence, she still couldn't look away. "I think we should go," she said softly. Then she smiled. "Besides, I really want to see you kick some supernatural ass."

Clenching his fists, Soul averted his gaze and muttered to no one in particular, "I guess it doesn't matter what I want then, even though I'm the one who will be fighting. Clay, when does the tournament start?"

He checked his watch. "As of right now, we have forty-five minutes to prep and get to tonight's arena. I already have directions from our guy, so all we have to do is put Soul through our pre-tournament ritual—"

Soul was suddenly twenty feet further away from his brother with wildly wide eyes. "You _wouldn't_."

Clay grinned. "It's tradition, Soul. You can't avoid it now."

"There's no way—"

"Too late."

Looking absolutely horrified, Soul shook his head, said, "Leave me the hell alone!" and disappeared from the room in a blur before anything else could be comprehended. Clay merely ran after him, laughing and teasing and poking fun at his brother's expense. And Kilik swore and followed shortly behind, swearing that he'd kill them himself if they started a fight on his property.

That left Wes and Maka sitting on the couch, the latter staring after the three boys in confusion. "What—?"

"You don't want to know," was all Wes said.

She shook her head to get rid of the ridiculous theories. Now she knew how Wes felt about how she and Soul met. "Okay, so then what do we have to do to get ready?"

"I don't know. Eat all this food, obviously. Get changed, probably."

"I'll help with the eating, but I'm okay with what I'm wearing. Anything else?"

"Wait, is that what you're planning to wear to the fight?" Wes stared at her, taking in her skinny jeans and button-up shirt. "Oh no. Oh, _hell_ no."

Grabbing her hand, Wes was ushering her into what she could only guess was his bedroom—with poster-covered walls that greatly contrasted with Soul's plain ones—before she could protest. By the time she adjusted to his vampire speed, he'd already unbuttoned her shirt and slid it off her shoulders so it fell to the ground, revealing only her bra underneath. Then he reached for the button of her jeans.

Shrieking, Maka jerked back from his friendly hands and yelled, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Relax, Maka, it's not like I've never seen a girl naked before."

"Not reassuring!"

Wes laughed. "Okay, fine, you can undress yourself. But I just have to point out that it's way less fun this way."

"Get. Out," she said between clenched teeth, keeping her arms wrapped around her bare middle. In her mind, she imagined strangling the too-touchy vampire with her tiny human palms.

"One second." Before she could protest, he disappeared in a blur towards the closet and returned a few seconds later with a few articles of clothing in hand. "Here," Wes said, handing them to her.

She eyed the pieces of fabric long enough to only verify that they were definitely female attire. "I'm not even going to ask why you have clothes like this in your closet."

"Good call. Change into that while I check to make sure Soul hasn't murdered Clay yet." He shook his head, but the affection in his expression wasn't missed. "You picked a hell of an Evans to fall in love with."

She spluttered. "What? I'm not—"

"Maybe not yet, but you care about him."

Her grip tightened on the clothes. "I have a boyfriend."

"Who may or may not be dead," reminded Wes simply. "I know it's complicated, but please don't be the stupid girl who drags along the right guy because she can't make a decision. If you are, I think I might have to kill you in your sleep."

Maka stared at him. "If you're trying to convince me to fall in love with your brother, you're not doing a very good job."

"Get changed, Maka," he said with a roll of his eyes, but the always-there smile never left his lips. "If you're not dressed by the time I come back, I will personally strip off your clothes and make sure you're decent for the tournament."

"Way to make it sound like a chore, Wes."

"Eh, that makes it sound like I have to pay to undress you, and I'm not really into prostitution."

"_Wes!_" She pushed him out of the room, barely able to contain her laughter. "Get _out_."

Grinning, he added, "On another note, if you end up falling in love with _me_, I'll be flattered but unable to reciprocate. Seriously. I vowed on the oath of _bros before hoes,_ and Soul saw you first."

"Don't worry, you're not my type."

He patted her on the head like an adorable little sister who didn't know any better. "Oh, you're cute, Maka. That's just a lie people use as a rejection tool. Sweet, sexy, and handsome? I'm everyone's type."

Maka snorted. "So you're saying that girls are lying when they say they don't want you?"

"Well, duh. Not that I've ever heard it personally, of course," he added. Then he paused. "Okay, one girl told me that last year—but she was gay."

"You're kind of cocky, you know that?"

"I consider it one of my better traits," Wes said with a shrug. "You know, next to my good looks and charming smile. Oh, and I'm also very good in bed if you wanted to give me a ride. I promise I'd make it worth your while—"

"WES!"

"Hey, I only said you couldn't fall in love with me—I said nothing about physical attachments." He grinned, cocking his head to the side. "Although we should probably pretend we never had this conversation when Soul gets back. I love the guy, but he has the emotional control of a girl with PMS."

"You're stalling. Are you sure you're not the one falling in love with _me_?" she asked teasingly.

"Caught me on that one, Maka. I'm planning my confession already." Wes winked, but he sobered quickly. "I mean it, though. If you hurt Soul, I know a million different ways to end your life."

"If you were a regular vampire, I could say the same thing. But since I'm guessing you're heartless like Soul…" Maka trailed off, taking confirmation in his knowing shrug. She studied him carefully. "You really care about him, don't you? Why? He's not really your brother, and he was a Hunter to top it off."

"Just because we're vampires doesn't mean the basis of our affections are based on blood, too," Wes said pointedly. "And I don't care who raised him. He could've been raised as a stripper by faeries I've never met before and he would still be my brother."

"What about if he was raised as a clown by Britney Spears?"

Wes shuddered. "Ugh, let's not push it. Clowns are freaky, and I do not give Britney permission to hit her baby one more time."

"Hey, Maka?" Soul appeared in the doorway behind his brother, his voice quiet and his cell phone in hand. "I—shit, why aren't you wearing a shirt?" He blinked at the amount of skin she was showing, and she could feel her body flush in embarrassment as she re-crossed her arms to cover herself.

"Wes tried to get me to change; I told him to get the hell out and I'd do it myself."

His lips quirked up. "You tell him, Maka. Sometimes my brother doesn't know the boundary between being friendly and _too_ friendly."

"I would be offended but that's actually the truth." Wes grinned. "You two kids continue on. I'm going to go check to make sure you at least left Clay breathing…"

As soon as Wes disappeared around the corner, Maka bit her lip and looked up at Soul through her lashes, still self-conscious. "What's wrong?"

"I called a friend who lives by the Academy and he said that he saw them—your friends—about a mile away from the club early last night. Three young Hunters, all in their late teens? They drew quite the attention to themselves."

Her heart began to beat fast in her chest. "They didn't go back to the Academy?"

"My guess is that they tried but something happened that prevented them to, or they refused to return without you."

"But they're alive?" Her voice was but a whisper. _Liz, Harvar, Kid… _She felt so bad about leaving them behind, but there was no other choice—not when staying put them in even more danger.

"They're alive, Maka. They're okay." Soul gave her a slight smile and she was stunned to see genuine relief in his face, too. He didn't know them at all, but he was happy enough to know they were safe just because _she_ had been worried. That was the kind of person she realized he was hiding underneath.

Before she could think better of it, Maka threw her arms around his neck. He stiffened around her for a moment; his arms hovered in the air as if he'd never been hugged before and didn't know what to do. Belatedly, she realized that she still wasn't wearing a shirt. That must've been part of the reason why he seemed so stiff against her.

Then he let his hands rest gently against her body, and it wasn't long before his grip tightened and he crushed her to his chest.

But Maka didn't care. Relief filled her so fully that she felt like a helium balloon, rising higher and higher off the ground in her breathtaking euphoria, and Soul's embrace was the only thing that kept her from floating away. It may not have been much just to know her friends were alive, but it felt like world-breaking news after the silence of the past few days.

"Thank you." Her voice was muffled by his shirt; she had to blink when tears threatened her eyes, thankful that he couldn't see her cry. "Thank you so much, Soul. You don't know how much this means to me."

"It was nothing," he whispered, his voice hoarse. But he didn't let her go for a long time.

* * *

Maka had never seen so many supernaturals in once place before in her life.

It was only a few minutes before the tournament was scheduled to start and the five of them—three vampires, one werewolf, and one Hunter—had just arrived at the place of choosing. It looked like an abandoned underground subway station, except without the abandoned part considering it was currently filling up with paranormal creatures of all kind.

Dressed in a somehow impossibly sluttier outfit than the one she'd worn to the club, Maka had to question Wes's fashion sense and Soul's sanity. The sexy silver dress she wore was beautiful but it showed way more skin than it covered. And if Soul was going to fight anyone bigger than the rock man on steroids they'd just walked past, she couldn't see how he'd make it out alive.

"Liz would never believe me if I told her about this," Maka said, shaking her head as they passed a guy with a lizard tail.

"Don't leave my side at all times for any circumstance," Soul told her, tightening his grip on her hand to make sure she didn't get lost in the crowd. "And when I'm fighting, latch on to Wes. I don't want you in this crowd by yourself—especially looking like _that_."

"What's wrong with how I look?" she asked, sounding highly affronted.

"It's not—" His eyes flickered down her body then away, as if forcibly trying to look at anything else. _Much like Kid had done the night everything went awry_, she reminded herself wryly. But then, _un_like Kid, Soul gritted out, "You're way too damn beautiful for your own good. I might have to beat up all the guys who come close to you."

Even though he'd told her before—even though she shouldn't have been affected—she couldn't stop her heart from pounding. She pushed it away forcefully, hoping that no one would notice. But considering they were in a crowd of supernaturals, she suspected that many of them did.

Not even attempting to hide his triumphant grin, Wes threw an arm around her shoulders and said proudly, "I knew this dress would look killer on her. And don't worry, bro, I'll take care of your girl."

"What about me?" Clay piped up, looking offended. "I can totally protect her."

"Not happening," said Soul automatically. "I'd be too worried thinking you'd spend all your time looking _at_ _her_ rather than looking out for possible threats."

The seventeen-year-old brother seemed to think about it before laughing. "You are _so_ right. Good call, Soul."

"_Ladies, gentleman, and in-between species of all nature_," boomed a voice from the clip-on speakers that were spread out on every corner of the station. "_We're about to start the first official match, so I'm asking all of the competitors and their supporters—who may be competitors as well—to make their way to the designated arena. If you can't find it, I'm pretty fucking sure you shouldn't be here right now. Go home. Watch TV. This isn't the place for the scatterbrained." _

As they made their way to where the crowd was already gathering, Maka noted how they moved like a unit. Without having to say anything, all four guys proceeded forward while staying in formation around her. Kilik led the way, Clay and Soul flocked her from the sides, and Wes trailed slightly behind in a perfect boxed cage.

Maka wanted to argue—because she was a Hunter, and it was always insulting when it was insinuated that she couldn't take care of herself—but she wasn't oblivious to the tension of Soul's shoulders. She could tell he wanted her there even less than he wanted to be there himself. Not because of what she was wearing, but because she smelled like a _human_.

And a human surrounded by bloodthirsty paranormals? Never good.

So she swallowed her pride—no matter what it cost her—and squeezed Soul's hand lightly, trying to show her reassurance, recognition, and appreciation all at once.

Soul squeezed back to show he'd gotten the message.

Kilik stopped walking so suddenly that she rammed into his back. She made an impatient noise, opening her mouth to retort, when she leaned around him and saw what had frozen the fearless werewolf in place.

There was no mistaking the dominance in this man's gaze and the way he held himself, nor was there any way she could miss the equally huge second-in-command who stood diagonally to his left. Maka had only met one alpha before in her life—and that meeting was brief when she passed through the room that Headmaster Albarn had been discussing treaties with the local pack. But she was certain this man was a werewolf alpha; the leader of a pack.

Soul growled lowly. "Giriko."

"I never thought I'd see the day where the great Soul Evans brings his own snacks to his fights," the alpha—Giriko—practically sneered. "Or don't tell me: She's your human girlfriend?" His voice dripped with sarcasm.

Maka opened her mouth to protest but Soul beat her to it. "As a matter of fact, she is," he said coldly. His hand pulled her tighter against him then slid to rest on her waist, making her head jerk up to his in surprise. He didn't even look at her. "So I suggest you back the hell away or I swear I'll rip your throat out with my bare hands."

Giriko's face twisted. "I'm looking forward to kicking your cocky ass back to the Arctic."

"I'd like to see you try."

This came from Maka as she pressed tighter against Soul. She'd recovered from her earlier shock when she realized what Soul was doing: setting protective boundaries around her for anyone that would listen. And she knew a many people might've been secretly listening in, hoping for an unregistered fight between the alpha and former champion. He was doing her a huge favor by advertising her as _off-limits_.

"My guy can totally take a mutt like you," she added airily.

This time it was Soul who was caught off guard, but he recovered quicker. "Damn straight," he said, pressing a swift kiss to the top of her head.

"How about you put your money where your mouth is?" Giriko challenged. "If I lose, then I owe you a favor—any favor—that you can cash in at any time."

"Like we need the help of a bastard werewolf," Clay muttered from Maka's other side. He and Wes weren't physically touching her like Soul, but she felt as if all three brothers had just stamped her with their mark that declared her as an out-of-bounds prize. Even Kilik—standing off to the side like another piece of flanking armor—growled to make his presence known.

It kind of felt like being peed on by a dog.

But Giriko continued speaking as if he didn't notice their intimidation. "If I win, then I get your girl."

Maka jerked back in revulsion as the dominating wolf's gaze raked over her body. In an instant, Soul's expression transformed from guarded caution to flat-out fury. "No way in _hell_!" he snarled, pushing Maka behind him so there was a distinct amount of space between her and the offending lycanthrope.

"Scared?" the alpha taunted.

"_Fuck_ no. I'm refusing because I would never bet my girl like some object, no matter how confident I am that I'm going to win," he growled. "And I'm damn repulsed that you even think you'd have a chance with her. She's a million times too good for a lowlife like you."

Maka touched his arm, fully aware of the many pairs of eyes on them. "Soul—"

"_Okay, it's time to start the first match!_" The voice over the speakers startled her but the guys didn't even flinch. She watched as everyone roared their approval, a mixture of animal growls and other unearthly sounds that testified to how diverse this crowd was. How _dangerous_.

Soul's protective grip on her tightened.

"_As per ritual_," said the anonymous announcer, his voice loud and animated, "_we're going to take requests first. For you poor new bastards who don't know the rules, you can't challenge someone who's already fought until we've gone through every single contestant. Exceptions are new fighters. Then we start the second round, and the third, and the fourth, and—oh, fuck it. You've probably got the idea; we'll review the rest as we go along. Do we have any requests or can we go straight to drawing names?_"

Giriko spoke up immediately. "I want to fight Soul Evans."

Clay rolled his crimson eyes. "Oh, I totally saw that one coming."

Roars of approval went through the crowd. As the announcer mused over the idea of an alpha and vampire prince starting off the night, Maka watched Soul shrug off his jacket, his expression unreadable. Underneath he was wearing a shirt that showed off the fine definitions of the kind of build that could only come from being constantly on the move. He stepped forward, into the center of the circle of people, and she watched from the sidelines.

"Are you okay with this?" she asked.

He slid a glance at her. "What? Whether I fight this bastard or not doesn't matter. I'm going to end up kicking ass anyways, so it might as well be someone I'm more motivated to put in his place."

That made Maka laugh. "There's my cocky vampire boyfriend."

A flicker of emotion flashed across his face, too fast for her human eyes to decipher. But somehow she understood anyways. "About that—"

"It's fine," she interrupted before he could blow their cover with apologies. "Seriously. I know what you were doing and I understand, Soul." She raised an eyebrow then continued loudly for show, "But if you don't make me proud, I swear you're sleeping on the couch tonight."

Soul flashed his half-grin. "Then I guess I have no choice but to win."

And win he did.

The way he fought… Maka didn't want to admit that violence could ever be beautiful, but there was really nothing else to describe it. It was like a dance. He was much faster than Giriko was and his movements were more measured. Soul had a sort of quality to him that made people stop to _watch_ him. Within the first few seconds, Maka realized clearly why he was the champion of these tournaments.

With his Hunter training, vampire strength, and powerful bloodline, Soul Evans was badass.

Giriko didn't stand a chance.

Soul was called to fight at least five times; same with Wes and Clay. Apparently everyone wanted a shot at beating an Evans brother—as if it somehow gained them more respect to be able to take out a vampire prince—but it didn't take an idiot to know that having Queen Medusa's royal blood in them made them stronger than imaginable. Even Maka couldn't remember knowing of anyone this omnipotent, and that didn't even count their lack of hearts.

Maka was half tempted to join into the betting pool, already confident that Soul would never lose. But 1) she didn't have money on her, and 2) she probably wouldn't earn much when the majority of smart people had to be betting on Soul, too.

Because really, was there any other choice? The thought made her want to laugh.

"What are you smiling about?" Soul asked as the crowd roared their approval for Clay. The younger-yet-older Evans seemed to be a fan favorite, which Maka suspected had to do most with the fact that he teased his opponents to no end before defeating them.

"Would it be wrong for me to say it's the fact that your shirt was torn the last match?" she teased.

"Fun for you, not so much for me. I may be a vampire, but it's ridiculously cold in here."

"You're kidding, right? I feel like I'm sweating buckets in this crowd."

"That was actually my lame excuse to get you to offer to cuddle up to me." Soul's grin practically stopped her own heart. "Pathetic, I know."

Beating Giriko and winning the past few matches had somehow put him at ease. Maka was still trying to understand his bipolar mood swings; she'd thought he didn't want to come to the tournament because he hated fighting, but it didn't seem like that at all. Instead, he was amazingly calm. If he actually did like sparring, then why was he so opposed to coming to this thing in the first place?

She probably should've returned another teasing reply, but instead she leaned into him and relished in how automatic it felt for him to tighten his arms around her. "Then call me pathetic too," she said, "because I'm totally falling for it."

"_Congratulations to this round's winner, Clay Evans!_" cheered the emcee, unsurprising to Maka. "_The outcomes may be predictable, but I bet you're all feeling very appreciative to the epic shows we're getting. Torn shirts, right, girls?"_ His voice tipped up wickedly, obviously declaring that he'd heard Maka's earlier words.

Soul laughed when she flushed a million shades of red.

"Stupid damn Evans," muttered the faery who'd just had him ass handed to him by Clay. He seemed loathe to lose, but he was grinning as Clay helped him to his feet and they shook hands without grudge.

"It's always fun to fight you too, dude." Then they proceeded to engage in a handshake so complicated that Maka was pretty sure included several swear words in sign language.

She watched, partly fascinated, partly amused, and partly incredulous as Clay joked around with the guy he just beat up. "Are they always like this?" she asked Soul, who merely grinned at his brother with barely hidden affection.

"Only Clay. He can beat you to a pulp then say something so funny that you forget all about it. It's practically impossible to hate him."

"That reminds me: what's that pre-tournament ritual Clay was talking about earlier? He wouldn't say."

Thanks to the witch enchantments, it actually showed when heat rushed to Soul's cheeks. "And he will take that with him to the grave!"

"_Looks like we have a request_," said the announcer, probably listening to someone who was talking into his ear. He sounded disapproving and curious at the exact same time. "_Westside alpha Giriko wants to challenge—and damn, you should note that I'm quoting this—'Soul Evans's human bitch_.'"

"Hey! I have a name, you know," she protested automatically. Then the emcee's words sunk in and Maka felt like the world was being yanked from right under her, letting her fall and fall and fall from the sky to a ground that still seemed so far away.

Someone was challenging _her_ to a fight. _Her_, out of all the badass supernaturals here.

Maka whirled to face Soul, shock building in her chest. "Is that even allowed? I'm not even a paranormal!" She may have been confident to fight as a Hunter—but that was exactly it. If these people saw her fight, it'd be obvious she was more than an ignorant human. They'd recognize her for a Hunter in an instant, and she had a feeling her life wouldn't be so long after that.

His jaw tightened and he called out to someone in the suddenly silent mass of people, ignoring her question. "Giriko is already out of the tournament; I kicked his ass on the first round."

"My beta is willing to take my place," replied Giriko, stepping out from crowd with a malicious smile on his face. "You know the rules; nobody is allowed to decline a fight without a valid reason. And since you and all of your brothers have already fought at least once, you aren't eligible to take her place as another new-joiner."

"She's human, you bastard," Soul snarled. "I'd say that's reason enough for her not to fight!"

Giriko simply shrugged. "There's no rule that says humans aren't part of species mix. It was your own damn fault for bringing her here."

"No one has ever challenged a pet before," he argued, and Maka cringed at the endearment. Even knowing Soul meant nothing by calling her "pet," it still felt like a blow to her pride.

"Is this really how low you want to play it?" Wes asked. Compared to Soul's murderous aura and Clay—who'd appeared at her side with an expression so fierce that Maka would've ran away if it had been directed at her—Wes's easy demeanor was like throwing up a brick wall. He was calm, and breezy, and cool. He raised an eyebrow lazily at the alpha, but it still held a brute challenge and threat underneath. "Don't you know how bad it is to make an enemy of the Evans brothers?"

This time, Giriko's smile was vicious. "I don't give a fuck what the queen's lackeys think of me."

Suddenly, there was a loud _smack_ as the masochistic werewolf was sent flying to the ground, landing with a thud and holding a hand to his jaw in surprise.

Because it wasn't Soul, or Wes, or Clay who had punched Giriko out.

It was Kid.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I keep trying to spread out updates for this, but apparently I have zero impulse control. Thank you to everyone who's left kudos or comments on this story, as well as those who somehow like my words enough to follow them. You guys validate my needy soul.


	6. Chapter 6

Maka couldn't breathe. There was a difference between knowing someone was alive and seeing them—between having hope and knowing reality. And now reality hit her like a thousand bricks sent flying towards her face, knocking her backwards yet not completely out so she could still comprehend what was happening.

Kid was here.

And then the second reality hit her harder. Everything clicked together like attractive magnets sticking shut. From the way Kid shouldn't have been at this supernatural gathering, to the way he was much faster than a human could ever be, to the way his eyes no longer gleamed gold but a dark red under the overhead lights…

"Oh no," she breathed, horror filling her every limb.

Kid was a _vampire_.

The way he looked at her… it was as if he didn't know her anymore. His eyes lingered on Soul's arm around her waist before snapping away, his fists clenched at his sides. She hastily stepped away, not caring how much her heart clenched or about their cover story any more.

"Kid?" she whispered. "Oh my god, what _happened_ to you? What… How… I don't understand."

But she did; she just _wished_ she didn't. And from Kid's wry smile, she could tell he was aware of her comprehension.

Without speaking to her, Kid shrugged off the jacket he was wearing—still the same outfit he'd had on the last time she saw him—and ignored the stares on him in the typical Kidman fashion. "I'll fight for her," he said loudly. "Rules state that any new contenders can take the place of others as long as they haven't fought before, right?"

Giriko's eyes darkened as he rose to his feet, moving his jaw from side to side. His expression held murder. "I don't think you know what you're doing, bloodsucker."

"I don't particularly care." Stepping into the circle, Kid managed to look fierce and bored all at the same time—like a person who belonged rather than a Hunter who had just been turned into the creature he despised. "I'm fighting instead, no questions asked."

"Wait a second—" Maka stepped forward to talk to him but Soul held her back, his jaw tight and his red eyes focused on nothing but her newly turned boyfriend.

Kid flicked a glance back at her, still unsmiling, still heartbreaking. But when he spoke, the words weren't for her. "Get her the hell out of here before someone else states a challenge. I can only do this once."

"No!" Her mind was spinning with so many questions that she could barely keep up: What happened? Who turned him? Where were Harvar and Liz? Why was he here?

And how could he stand to be a vampire for even a _second_ when he'd spent his entire life pledging his desire to rid the world of the entire race?

Again, Soul restrained her, gently yet firmly winding an arm around her waist to pull her away from the circle of people that started to close around her boyfriend and Giriko's beta. She flinched away from Soul's touch, trying to ignore the way it seemed to wound him, and fought to stay in control of her movements.

"Let me go! I need to talk to Kid—"

"You can't," said Soul tightly. "Don't you see the sacrifice he's making for you? We have to go now."

"No." Embarrassingly, her voice trembled as tears started to form in her eyes, but she pushed them hastily back. It felt like someone yanked on a string that tightened all the ropes and veins around her heart, making it impossible to breathe, think, _move_. Kid was here, and she was acting like a slut, and even though she hadn't done anything, it felt like she'd just crossed a line she could never return from.

_God, Kid, what have I done? What have _you _done? _

In on swift movement, Soul scooped her legs from under her, tightening his grip when she struggled to get free. "Damn it, Soul," she growled, angrily pushing against his chest. "You can't just carry me every time I don't agree to go with you somewhere!"

The look he gave her chilled her to the bone. "I'm leaving," Soul announced monotonously, nodding almost politely to the people who were running the competition. "You can withdraw me from the tournament. Sorry."

It was as if he dropped a bomb.

Everyone started to protest loudly, as if they needed to shout to each other to be heard. Many were absolutely furious at not having a chance to fight Soul; Maka heard some choice words being said about his tiny human companion that made her cringe. Apparently no one was ready for Soul Evans to part—not because they liked him but because they wanted the chance to beat him.

"Soul, I'm pretty sure there would be a riot if you left now," Wes said with a wry look around the livid contestants. "You should stay here. Let me take Maka home."

"You're not out of the competition yet either."

"Yeah, but my fans are taking the day off." The older Evans lifted one shoulder in a shrug, then reached out to scoop Maka from Soul's tightening arms. He grinned when he practically had to pry Soul off her.

Maka wriggled. "Stop passing me around like a baby!"

"But I like holding you like this," said Wes, winking down at her. "It makes me feel like a badass white knight." To his younger brother, who looked angrier than a taunted bull, he said, "Kilik and I will take Maka and be waiting at the house. Meet us there when you're done kicking the asses of everyone here."

Soul gritted his teeth like he wanted to protest, but one quick glance at the riot that was already building made him forcefully take a deep breath. "If you let her get hurt—"

"You know me better than that, little brother."

As hard as she tried, Maka could not decipher the look that passed between the two brothers—but it meant something strong, she could tell. It meant something that neither was willing to say out loud. "Then get the hell out of here," said Soul finally.

Around the sea of people, Kid looked at her dead in the eye, the dark blood red such a huge contrast to the gold she was used to. "I better see you later!" she yelled, certain he could hear her. But he gave no indication of answering.

Then Wes was running and everything else disappeared.

* * *

"You're going to carve a path into the floor if you keep pacing like that."

Maka stopped walking long enough to shoot Wes an unfriendly glare.

They'd been back at Wes's house for just over an hour now and Maka couldn't sit still. She wanted to go back to the arena and make sure Kid and Soul were okay, but at the same time, she knew they'd be better off if they didn't have to worry about her. She knew that before she left and yet she'd still been selfish enough to go. Now Kid had to fight because of her; could possibly get _hurt_ because of her.

Kilik had been called off to deal with some issues with his pack, which left Maka alone with Wes. She didn't mind at first; he was fun to be around. But fun wasn't exactly what she was looking for when she wanted time to worry about her maybe-ex-boyfriend.

Grinning in return, Wes vanished from his seat on the couch and reappeared directly in front of her. She tried to step away but he wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her up against him. Her face turned beat red. "Do you _want_ me to break your toe?"

Wes laughed. "I get the appeal now."

"What? Of getting beaten up by a girl?"

"No, of _you_, silly girl. Your innocence is cute. It suits you."

"I love how you guys can call me innocent and cute when I've killed my fair share of people," she muttered.

"You've killed _vampires_," he corrected.

"Careful, bloodsucker," she said in a mock-gasp. "I think you just admitted that you aren't a real person."

His eyes sparkled. "You'll never get it in writing."

"How long do you think it'll be before they get back?" All of her humor dropped as the worry overtook her. She couldn't stop thinking of Kid, who was no longer the boy she knew a few days again, and Soul, whose fury hurt her in a place she used to think no vampire could ever touch.

Releasing her, Wes studied her with his blood red eyes. "Tournaments usually last until dawn."

_So far away_, she thought with a distressed look at the clock. It was only two in the morning.

Maka didn't know what to do, didn't know what was expected of her, and sure as hell didn't know what she wanted. Things had always been complicated with Kid, but this… this just threw everything else out the window. Her mind wanted to feel something but her heart was tugging her somewhere else, drowning her in a different tune, and she wasn't ready to admit it yet.

"Are you thinking about me without my clothes on?" Wes asked.

If Maka had been drinking anything, she would've sprayed it everywhere. "As if! Is that really all you can think about right now?" she said with disbelief. "Whether or not I'm turned on by your charms?"

Shrugging, Wes said, "Well, it's not really that common so I'm trying to figure out what the kink is."

"Do you really want a list? Because I can give you one. It starts with your arrogance—"

"You love my arrogance," he argued.

"—continues with the way you think you're top dog—"

"I only speak the truth."

"—and has a lot to do with the fact that you're practically fluent with innuendoes!"

Wes laughed. "That's only because you blush every time I mention anything dirty. It's the reason I do it, you know."

"Tease me to no end?"

His smile was deviously wicked. "Well, that too."

"WES!"

"I love how you always say my name like that. It makes me feel like a bad, bad boy."

Exhaling in exasperation, Maka rolled her eyes and started to walk away from Wes but he grabbed her hand and twirled her around. She gave him a look of pure incredulity which he ignored, opting to spin her again and start sidestepping as if they were doing a waltz. This time she couldn't help but laugh. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he teased, dipping her so low that her long blond hair brushed the ground. "Dancing, of course."

"There's no music."

He raised an eyebrow as they smoothly glided with each other across the smooth tiles of his living room. "Are you inviting me to sing?"

"Oh, god no," she said in mock-horror. "Please, anything but that!"

Wes placed one hand to his chest, feigning hurt, but his expression softened as he gently glided them to a stop in front of the artificial fireplace. She could feel its heat seeping deep within her bones, warming her to her worrying cold core. "They're going to be fine," he told her.

Maka pursed her lips up at him. "You did all that to get my mind off it, didn't you?"

"Nope, I did all that because I wanted to see how well you could dance," Wes contradicted. "And you passed, just so you know. You can keep up. Makes me curious as to how much you can handle in bed—"

Not-so-gently, she pushed away from him with a roll of her eyes, but she couldn't help but give him a grateful smile. "Do you really think so?"

"You saw firsthand how well my brother can fight. I'm sure he'd find it insulting that you doubt his ability this much, Maka."

"How can that even be possible?" she wanted to know. "I get that Soul used to be a Hunter, but the fact that he's so much better than everyone else and can still fly under the radar shouldn't be real. If I got up there and fought, my Hunter moves would've been recognized in an instant."

Wes shook his head. "That's different. Practically everything you learned is directly from the Academy and pretty modern to top it off. But Soul spent the majority of his human life on the streets and he's lived his entire afterlife with five—now four—of the world's strongest vampires. Of course he's going to learn more tricks and combine them with his old."

"There's so much pressure on him," Maka said softly, trying and failing to fathom how hard it would be to live in Soul's shoes. From the sly look on Wes's face, she could tell he was going to make some sort of perverted comment so she quickly asked, "What about Kid? He's a Hunter. Do you think they'll notice?"

"Not if he acted anything like he was at the arena. That boy is pretty damn vicious as a bloodsucker. You'd think he was born to be a vampire with the perfect way he's wearing his brooding new identity."

Knowing for a fact that Kid would hate that comment, she chose to ignore it. "So what's your excuse? You're not that bad either."

"Wait until you see what I can do with chains and a whip," he said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows.

Maka rolled her eyes. "I totally set myself up for that one."

The sound of a lock turning faintly hit Maka's ears and her head snapped up in alarm. Even Wes looked surprised, as if he hadn't been paying attention and didn't notice the approach of people beforehand. It was strange because she thought vampires only tuned out when they were distracted by something else—and Wes must've been very distracted.

"Kid?" Maka called out tentatively, both hoping and dreading that it was him.

"Guess again," Clay said as he sauntered into the room.

"You guys are back early," Wes commented as Soul and Clay settled in around them. Both were covered in blood and their clothes were a mess, but relief filled her with noticing that they seemed completely fine. It was one of the benefits of being a vampire: they healed fast. "Tell me, little brother: how many asses did you speed-kick just to get here in the least amount of time possible?"

Clay gave Soul the dirtiest look imaginable. "This idiot tried to throw a match."

"Tried?"

Wryly, Soul muttered, "Apparently I have too much pride to let someone beat the shit out of me. I let him punch me once then went feral and threw him through a cement post."

A laugh escaped her lips, causing all three brothers in the room gave her a variety of looks that had the same _are-you-insane_ message. She covered her mouth and tried not to smile, but one look at Soul's disgruntled expression made it impossible not to be endeared. Her own pride as a Hunter was bad enough—her inability to decline a challenge was the reason she'd always gotten into so much trouble at the Academy—but it had to have been amplified in Soul's vampire self.

Wes grinned at her. "See? I love this girl. She knows when kicking ass is supposed to be funny."

Maka opened her mouth to retort but froze when she realized that Kid wasn't among them. She blinked repeatedly, as if he would magically appear in the room between one flutter of her eyelashes to the next, but only the four of them remained in the room.

"Where's Kid?"

Even before the words left her mouth, she feared the answer. Something was wrong with the way Clay avoided her gaze and the way Soul clenched his jaw, as if he was suppressing the urge to smash his fist through the wall. Something was wrong with the way Kid didn't return with the two Evans brothers since he never would have left her alone before, let alone with vampires he didn't know.

"I'm sorry, Maka," said Clay, sounding genuinely regretful. "He wouldn't come."

* * *

As Maka wound her fist back, she idly wondered if his grin while being the target of her punches was a sign of Wes Evans's insanity.

"You have good form," he said approvingly as he caught her blow easily with one hand. "You just need more force behind it if you want to make an impact on a vampire."

"Don't forget I landed a punch on you the first time."

Swiftly spinning her so he held her arms wrapped around herself, back pressed against his chest, Wes leaned forward so his lips brushed her ear as he spoke. "How could I forget? You looked so damn hot with all your fire and drive."

Maka gripped his arm and twisted forward, using her momentum to throw him over her shoulder. If he'd been anything else, he would've landed flat on his back—but as a vampire royal, he was impossible to hinder with a simple move. Somehow Maka ended up being the one flat on her back with Wes on top, pinning her against the ground with a grin on his face.

"Damn it." She exhaled deeply as Wes helped her to her feet. "How is it that, even with all my training, I always end up on the bottom?"

"I like the top," the vampire said cheekily.

"Don't start, Wes."

"You're distracted." Flicking her gently on the forehead, he raised a dark blond eyebrow. "How can you expect to stake a Charmed vampire if you can't even keep your head screwed on straight?"

Ever since Clay said that Kid refused to return with them to Wes's mansion, she could tell that the three brothers were waiting for her to break down. They were expecting a girl who would cry from the hurt and despondently wonder why her boyfriend was avoiding her; they were expecting an emotional teenager instead of the Hunter she'd been trained to be.

Maka took that as a challenge—although trying to focus on anything other than the fact that her former best friend refused to see her was harder than she thought it would be.

When Soul and Clay had started to plan their next move against Justin—Soul because, out of all three of them, he knew Justin best; and Clay because, despite his carefree nature, he was a huge computer genius—Maka couldn't sit still. She needed to do something, hit something, to create an outlet for all the tension building inside of her. Wes offered to spar for fun and give her a few tricks, which she gratefully accepted.

Sometimes it felt like her heart and brain weren't even connected: when her mind wanted to feel one thing, her human heart often yearned for the very opposite. In this case, she wanted to bury her face in her knees and cry.

Instead, she asked, "What's up with this whole Charmed thing anyways? I still don't understand how you guys can survive without a heart."

"What _I_ still don't understand," Wes replied, "is how Soul managed to slip up so much that he let that secret be revealed. Seriously, it's not like him to screw things over like that, especially to a Hunter."

"I heard that," Soul called from down the hall, his voice muffled by the many layers of wood between them.

"Stop eavesdropping," Wes called back in a sing-song voice.

While he was turned the other way, Maka twisted to slice her foot in the air which he—unsurprisingly—caught with one hand. But instead of throwing her to the ground as he should've done or flipping her over as Soul had done when they fought in the club a few nights ago, Wes yanked her leg forward and wrapped it around his waist, pressing her up against him.

"Tsk, tsk," he said with mock disapproval. "Save the dirty tricks for the bedroom, Maka."

"Is anything out of your mouth ever _not_ an innuendo?"

"Not when I'm with you. I can't seem to help myself."

"You know, maybe these aren't the best things to say when you're holding us this close together," she said, barely managing to suppress a laugh as she pointedly nodded downwards.

He grinned. "Or maybe I just need to let it all out."

"Hey!" shouted Soul again, this time his voice holding a slight warning. "Hands off, asshole. Don't make me come over there."

After Wes released her, Maka wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. She was dressed only in a tank top and a pair of short-shorts that Wes claimed he had "lying around" in his closet, but the training room felt warmer than the rest of the house. She wanted to ask for water yet didn't, knowing for a fact that she could survive longer than most without hydration.

"Soul didn't mess up, you know," she told the older Evans. "I found out when I drove a stake through his back and he didn't turn to ash like he was supposed to."

"No chocolate? Vanilla? Flavors of all kinds?"

She almost laughed at his disappointment. "Nothing but vanilla perfume. Sorry to burst your fantasies. But he promised to tell me everything once we got to his safe house because, as Maka Albarn—whatever that means—I deserve to know. You might as well start him off."

"What do you want to know?"

"How many of you are there that can live without hearts?" _That can live without dying?_ she wanted to ask. _That can live without worrying that a simple wooden stake could end your life?_

"Well, technically, we aren't really living..." At Maka's foul look, Wes laughed and ducked under her next roundhouse kick. "Only my brothers and I have been Charmed with that particular skill. It takes an immense amount of energy and is a very complicated spell; Medusa wouldn't waste it on anyone."

Curiously, Maka straightened up and asked, "Does that mean the rumors true? Is Queen Medusa a witch too?"

There were always hundreds of rumors running through the Academy. Just because it was built to train the world's future saviors didn't mean the students there weren't huge players in gossip. One particularly popular myth—which Headmaster Albarn had refused to acknowledge or deny—was that the reason Medusa was so powerful was because she was a witch before she turned.

Everyone knew that mixed breeds didn't survive. If a werewolf and vampire—or vampire and faerie, faerie and witch, witch and werewolf, etcetera—were to mate, they would be infertile. There was something about the mixing of bloods that made it impossible for children of different species to prosper. Only half-mortals were possible, but not two supernatural halves.

It worked the same with turning. People who were witches could not be vampires, werewolves, or fey—and vice versa, vice versa, vice versa. They either died almost immediately or went mad trying, which eventually led to death anyways. But somehow, as rumor had it, Medusa had once been the daughter of a legendary witch before she was turned.

And she survived.

"You know," Wes began, "just because we're vampires doesn't mean our hierarchy doesn't have any similarities to your human ones. Betraying our queen's trust is an act of treason. The automatic punishment is death—no warnings, and no proof needed either. Sort of like the Salem witch trials. The fact that you know about our missing hearts already would be enough to bring the capital punishment."

"_What?_ Then stop talking and shut the hell up!" Maka exclaimed, backing up as if she could run away from the information. "I hate not being informed but I don't want to get you _killed_."

He shrugged. "Nah, it's fine. Us Evanses have always been the exception to this rule so it doesn't really matter. Medusa gets angry but she loves us too damn much—you know, lest she admit it."

Maka stared at him with disbelief. "So why did you tell me that? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

A wide grin lifted the corners of his perfect mouth. "I wanted to see if you care."

"You're an asshole."

"And you're adorable," he said in turn, his smile affectionate. "Did you know that?"

"You won't think so when I have my foot jammed up your—"

Wes blocked her next kick with a laugh, absorbing the impact and pushing back so she nearly spun off her feet. "Nice one. But to answer your previous question: Yes, Medusa was born a witch. Now she's a witchy vampire. That's how she Charms us with so many different spells."

Sticking her tongue out—childish but necessary in her opinion—Maka asked, "How is that possible? Does she have a limit? Does that mean you guys have some sort of witchy mojo in you too, since she's the one who turned you?"

"I don't know, yes, and no—in that order. The only thing we inherited from her is the ability to use compulsion. She may be the only surviving mix-breed that we know of but that doesn't mean she's all-powerful. Medusa can be killed just like the rest of us, if only we could find her heart."

"Sure doesn't feel like it," Maka muttered, recalling the many stories she knew about attempts on the vampire queen's life. No one she knew had ever come back alive from an assassination attempt. The queen was so rarely seen by anyone outside her inner circle that it was rumored she didn't even exist, and— "Wait a second!" A thought suddenly slammed into her and Maka stared up at Wes with wide eyes. "What do you mean, _if only we could find her heart_?"

He laughed. "I have a really dirty response to that but for your benefit, I'm not going to say it out loud."

"_Wes_."

"See? There's the _you've-been-a-naughty-boy_ tone again. How can you use it and not expect me to get turned on?"

"OH MY GOD." She pushed at his shoulder, rolling her eyes as she stepped away towards the door. "If you're going to keep spewing out innuendoes like that, I'm going to go find Soul and ask him to explain instead."

The sexy blond vampire looked like he was suppressing the urge to smile. Casually, Wes put an arm around her shoulders—the same way she realized he always did when he was comfortable with her—and started leading them through the halls. "My brother is busy and you haven't been shown your bedroom yet. How about I take you on the grand tour of the mansion?"

Wes led her up the stairs in silence. He'd released her shoulders to grasp her hand instead, making Maka feel vaguely like a princess being led up a grand staircase. The mansion was beautiful in a grandly old-fashioned kind of way, with intricately carved designs on the mahogany walls and chandeliers dangling from the high ceilings. All that was missing was the cheesy masquerade ball with huge corseted dresses.

As they passed more rooms than she could count—most closed off by shut doors—she heard the faint sound of Soul's voice coming from one of them. Maka stopped walking and turned her head in the direction of his voice: an instinct she hated on recognition but couldn't stop.

A soft laugh at her side brought her out of her reverie. Maka glanced at Wes, who looked clearly amused but simply held a finger to his lips as he led her away. He shushed her when she tried to speak, and only when the door to his bedroom shut behind them did he let her get a word out.

"I thought you were taking me on a tour," she said warily.

"Actually, I said I was going to show you your room," Wes corrected. "And I don't know about you, but I think it sounds like a pretty fine idea for you to sleep here with me." At her incredulous look, Wes's always-present grin widened. "I'm kidding. Your room is next door; mine is just the only one that's soundproof _within_ the house."

"Okay, now I'm suspicious."

He placed his hand against the door and waited a moment in a silence that Maka couldn't fully understand. She opened her mouth to protest when he finally spoke. "We have hearts, you know. We just hide them."

"Where? In your toes?" She couldn't help it. The idea was so ridiculous that her skepticism just slipped out.

Entwining his hands behind his head, Wes fell back onto his plush king-sized bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Medusa is like the mad scientist of witches. She doesn't want to read her family grimoire and practice spells they already came up with; she wants to create her own, to be more powerful than anyone else ever could, to discover things that no one else dares to—and a lot of the time, she does.

"But she was never satisfied," he continued. "Even though she could bind a person's loyalty, make it so he would never be able to betray her, and ensure that she would always be a step in front of everyone else, Medusa wanted immortality the way even vampires can't attain. She wanted to be able to live forever without worrying that her eternity could end at the point of a simple wooden stake. She was so obsessed with living forever that she never really lived."

"That's…" Maka struggled for words, and Wes gave her a sympathetic smile.

"There's no way to describe it," he agreed. "This whole missing heart thing… It's the closest we can get to being truly immortal but Medusa still isn't satisfied because—even though our hearts are no longer in our chests—they're still our weakness, just better hidden."

Her huge green eyes glistened even more as they widened. "So you're saying that you'd still turn to ash if your heart was staked? But you have to keep it hidden somewhere else?"

The thought was so absurd, so impossible, that it refused to process right in her head. Maka had grown up believing that a person's heart was his biggest weakness, both figuratively and literally. The idea of it being able to survive outside of a person's body, still living and being the very weakness that could lead to destruction…

God, this was all so messed up.

"If I tell you where my heart is, I might have to kill you," said Wes with a sly raise of his eyebrow. "Not even my brothers know where I've stashed it—well, except Clay."

"Not Soul?" she asked, surprised.

"He wasn't there when I hid mine. He was with Justin."

"_What_?"

At Maka's wide eyes, the corners of Wes's lips curved up into a grin. "How much did Soul tell you about the sibling rivalry between Evanses?"

"Just that you three were working to dethrone Medusa, and Justin and Akane were working _for_ her. But why would Soul always hang out with those two if they have conflicted interests? He was with them at the bar too…" She trailed off, her slim blond brows pulling together in confusion.

"It's impossible to say whether or not they know what we're planning; Medusa is like a super-witch in some ways but she isn't all-knowing like faeries are. Soul was the closest thing we had to a double agent. He wanted Medusa off the throne too but he pretended he was on Justin's side so she'd put more trust on him."

"And Medusa doesn't trust you and Clay?"

"It's complicated," said Wes, shaking his head. "We may not always be obedient, but she loves us like we're actually her sons. I don't think she suspects our wills are this strong that we'd think of overthrowing her." Then he grinned. "Soul is Medusa's favorite."

Was there never going to be a limit to how many times she was going to be surprised today? "I thought it would've been Justin."

"We're not the only ones who are annoyed by Justin's haughtiness, you know," Wes said mischievously. "I think he knows it too, but just won't admit it. Soul, on the other hand, was the perfect mole. He was new and Justin was looking for another protégé, so Soul's recruitment was almost impeccable timing."

"And I ruined it when he abandoned them to protect me," Maka said with realization. Horror and guilt followed quickly after. They were probably well on their way to a plan of success when Soul threw it all away because he was bound to save _her_. A girl he didn't even personally know. A Hunter. A reminder of his awful past.

If she was expecting any sympathy from Wes, that wasn't what she got. "Yep. All those years of undercover recon—gone because of you. So you better be prepared to repay the debt."

"Why did you want me in your soundproof bedroom within your soundproof house before you told me this?"

Wes wore an unreadable expression. "My brother eavesdrops too much for his own good. It distracts him. It'll help his concentration to not give him the choice."

"The choice?" she echoed.

"Contrary to popular belief, our super senses aren't activated twenty-four/seven. It's sort of like when you're trying to look at something that's far away: You have to adjust your focus to concentrate on it. We don't always hear everything within a five-mile radius; that would drive us crazy. We only tune in occasionally on instinct or when we want to."

"Don't think I don't know how you're trying to distract me," Maka warned, even though she was secretly intrigued. "Why don't you want Soul to hear what you're telling me?"

Wes was in front of her in an instant. "Do you think vampires are cold?"

"I—" She stopped. "Is this a trick question?"

"All the stories say that we're heartless bastards who have no soul or sense of right and wrong," he said, ignoring her inquiry, "but those are the biggest lies you could ever hear. Being a vampire heightens everything within you: senses, emotions, morality, conflict. _That's_ the reason some of us go mad. Not because we don't feel enough, but because we feel _too much_."

Maka stared at him, waiting for the punchline, but his expression remained scarily serious. "You're lying."

"What would I have to gain with that?" Wes's red eyes didn't change and Maka had a feeling deep in her gut that it was taking an immense amount of energy and control to keep it like that. "When we care about something—when we love something, want something, hate something—it's violent and nearly impossible to control. It makes us passionate. Unpredictable. Dangerous.

"I love my brother," he said easily, "and for reasons I'm starting to understand, he cares about _you_. Soul doesn't need to have to worry that you'll react badly to his mutations—because that's the way he feels, you know. Like he's somehow cheated the world by being granted things that no one else can attain."

"You wanted to protect him in case I was disgusted," she realized. "So my reaction wouldn't hurt him. But I wasn't. I'm _not_."

Wes gave her a small smile that seemed to say a million things yet nothing at all, and she had a feeling that she was doing something wrong—saying something wrong—even though she had no idea what. "What would you have done if your boyfriend came home with us?" he asked suddenly.

Maka's heart skipped a beat, but thankfully Wes pretended not to notice. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Do you love him?"

Of course she did. Loving Kid was as effortless as knowing she needed oxygen to breathe or believing in the supernatural. They were things that she barely had to think about, that had always been a part of her, even though sometimes she didn't know why.

"Do you see a future with him?" When Maka refused to answer, Wes continued, "Because I know love when I see it, and the way you two are together seems more like a pair waiting for the end rather than two people ready to build a life together."

"I know," she said, and had the brief satisfaction of seeing surprise flicker across his face. Wes probably hadn't expected her to admit it. "I always knew Kid and I were never meant to be forever. But it's complicated in a way I don't expect you to understand, so please shut the hell up and leave my relationship out of this."

Wes stared at her for a moment longer before throwing his head back and letting out a roar of laughter. Annoyed, Maka pictured plunging a stake through his chest just to see how he'd react. He wiped his eyes and looked at her with a brilliant smile. "I like you more and more every minute, Maka. How about a couple more rounds of Kick My Ass?"

* * *

_DING DONG! _

Maka's head jerked up at the sound of a doorbell. Taking advantage of her distraction, Wes grabbed her wrist and flipped her over so she landed flat on her back with a grunt. She yanked on his hand and rolled over in an attempt to pull him down as well, but he recovered faster than she did. Somehow she ended up on the bottom again.

"Damn it!" Maka hid a wince as she got to her feet. "I totally had you before I was distracted."

"Rule number one: Don't let anything distract you."

"I thought rule number one was that all vampires are hot," she said sourly, reminding him of his ridiculous inputs during their extensively long sparring session.

Wes grinned. "No, that was _fact_ number one. The rules are different."

"Shouldn't you go find out who's at your door?" she asked as the doorbell sounded several times more, each time seeming even more furious than the last. Curiosity filled her. Who visited a vampire royal at—she glanced at the clock—five in the morning?

"It's not your boyfriend," he answered her unasked question. "Our guest has a heartbeat which makes her human, and judging from the lack of fear in the sound, she must not know that we're vampires here. Probably a telemarketer or Girl Scout. My brothers will take care of it."

Maka raised an eyebrow. "How do you know it's a girl?"

His expression was deviously wicked. "Call it instinct." Then his eyes widened suddenly and he straightened up, interest sparking in his face. When he grabbed her hand and yanked her towards the door, Maka knew he must've heard something unexpected. Someone of interest was at the door and she had a feeling it wasn't a Girl Scout with his favorite cookies.

"What—?"

"It's for you," was all he said.

She started to ask more but then they neared the front door and she heard it too: a voice. It was extremely feminine but young, not quite a woman yet definitely not a little girl. But it was the strong _don't-mess-with-me_ quality to it that Maka recognized, causing her to run faster and faster towards the voice.

"Oh my god," Maka gasped as she rounded the corner. "Liz, what are you doing here?"

Elizabeth Thompson had always been intimidating. To the few girls at the Academy, she was often considered so beautiful and blunt that none of them were comfortable being her friend. To the guys, her aura often said _I-will-kick-your-ass-if-you-mess-with-me-but-hey-you-look-really-sexy-in-those-jeans_—which wasn't exactly the most popular guy magnet to a bunch of Hunters-in-training who hated being upstaged.

But even after the most brutal missions, Maka had never seen her friend look so disheveled.

There were dark circles under her eyes and her light brown hair was pulled in a messy bun. The thin scratch across her cheekbone matched the set of cuts all over her fair skin. Maka also noticed the overlapping patterns of a bandage underneath Liz's shirt, twisting all the way from her left wrist to her upper arm.

Her beautiful blue eyes were tense as they flicked between Soul, Clay, and the now-arriving Wes. "I could ask you the same thing," she said in response to Maka's earlier question. "Do you want to tell me why you've been spending the past few days with a bunch of vampires who look like they want to jump your bones?"

"Just because we're vampires doesn't mean we're not hormonal train wrecks," Clay piped up as way of explanation. "Speaking of hormonal instincts: who are _you_, gorgeous?"

"Talk to me again and I'll show you what it feels like to be punched by a girl who's on true hormonal PMS," Liz warned in a voice full of venom.

"Yikes." Clay winced. "You know, you're not nearly as fun to tease as Maka."

Part of Maka wanted to leap at her friend with a hug in relief to seeing her still snarky and alive and not a vampire, like Kid. That part filled her veins with static-charged relief so great that it Maka finally realized how tired she'd actually been before in comparison. But the other part… was confused. "How—?"

"I'm here to take you home since Kid obviously didn't have the sense to when he called me," Liz said with a roll of her eyes. It was amazing how nonchalant she could look when it was obvious how tense her body was. "All the idiot said was that you were with the vampire princes and he needed to figure some things out before he went after you—which is piss-poor timing for a trip of self-discovery, if you ask me."

Clay let out a string of colorful words. "He promised he wouldn't tell anyone about this location! Lying Hunter bastard."

Maka whirled on him in surprise. "You actually told Kid where we were?" She couldn't believe they'd trust any Hunter enough to know where the location of Wes's main base was, whether he was a newly turned vampire or not.

"We thought that since he had been so keen on protecting you, he wouldn't do anything that put you in jeopardy," Soul answered for his brother. "Apparently we were wrong."

"Oh, for Arachne's sake!" Liz exclaimed. "I'm not here to put Maka in danger."

Soul met the brunette's gaze with a coldness Maka hadn't seen since he first discovered her true name. "You being here puts _all_ of us in danger and you can't pretend you don't know it. If you're truly a Hunter, you wouldn't be that stupid."

Liz's lips twisted. "Out of everyone here, I'm not the biggest danger to Maka and _you_ know _that_."

Whatever Maka was about to say in a diffusing response to that was cut off by the sound of screeching tires. A large black truck wheeled around the corner so quickly that it nearly tipped over onto its side, but somehow it managed to stay upright as it plowed towards them. Maka narrowed her eyes in an attempt to see through the tinted window, but the vehicle swerved to a stop in front of them and the door flew open before she could get in a good guess.

Out jumped Kilik, his eyes wild and his breaths coming fast as he walked up to the door with quick werewolf strides—then he surprised everyone by grabbing Liz's chin and pulling her practically nose to nose with him.

"I had to hear from one of my pack members that you crossed onto my territory," Kilik growled. "Why the hell did you come here without saying anything, Beth?"

And then he kissed her.

* * *

**Author's Note:** School has been kicking my ass these past few weeks so I wasn't able to update, but now it's back to our regularly scheduled program! These next couple chapters aren't _as_ SoMa-centric as the beginning, but I promise the chapters after that more than make up for it. Thanks so much for being patient.

Also a big shoutout to Chloe (a.k.a. the ever-adorable and incredibly talented and well-loved _**infantblue**_) for being literally the nicest human alive. I fucking adore you. Bless your heart for putting up with me.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Thanks again to the sweetheart _**infantblue**_ for encouraging me even when I fall to bouts of self-doubt, as well as all the amazing readers who continue to read my words even when I fail to post them. You're the best support system a girl could have.

* * *

"Do you want some tea?"

Wes's absurdly normal question made Maka want to laugh. After shocking the hell out of everyone—even Wes, who claimed to be good friends with the werewolf for centuries—by kissing Liz, Kilik had somehow managed to convince the brunette to come inside. That way, their conversations would be masked by the mansion's protective spell.

Now the six of them were sitting in the living room in a tense kind of ceasefire. Even though Liz looked as if she'd rather be anywhere but there, Kilik refused to leave her side. He didn't touch her, didn't cuddle with her, but the way he stared at her made it obvious how he felt.

When Liz merely stared at Wes blankly, the vampire nodded as if he expected that. "Yeah, me neither." He pulled out another bottle instead. "Whiskey then?"

She made a face. "You still drink booze, bloodsucker?"

"Probably more than blood," replied Wes, looking genuinely thoughtful. Then he grinned. "Nope, I definitely drink blood more, although alcohol comes in a really close second."

"Wes!" Maka exclaimed, grabbing the nearest object—a sofa cushion—and chucking it at him. "Do you think it's the best idea to tell a Hunter how much blood you drinking? _Honestly_."

Catching the cushion easily from the air, he turned to Liz and said conversationally, "Maka says my name in reprimand a lot. Is she always like that? So adorably practical that you just want to wrap her in bubble wrap and send her off into the world to see how much havoc she causes?"

Liz's blank stare turned to one of incredulity. "I thought vampires can't get drunk. You seem pretty high to me."

"That's how Wes always is," said Soul. He was shaking his head at his brother but Maka could see the telltale signs of an amused smile threatening his lips. She wanted to throw another pillow at him, too. "You'll have to excuse him. He doesn't seem to understand that not all girls can be won over by his charm."

"Hey, I thought I was doing a pretty good job," Wes said defensively. To Liz, he asked, "You think I'm charming, right?"

"Back off, Wes," Kilik practically growled, scooting closer to her on the chair protectively as if he could shield Liz from Wes's gaze. "You're my best friend and all, but if you make a move on my girl, I _will_ kick your ass to Zimbabwe. Beth is beyond off limits."

"Jesus," Liz said, looking to Maka. "Is this the amount of testosterone you've been living with for the past few days?"

"You don't know the half of it."

"Maka—"

"Wes, can we use your room? Yeah, thanks," Maka said hurriedly as she grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her out of the room. Several voices spoke out in protest, Wes's "I didn't tell you about the listening Charm so you could keep a girl fight from us!" included, but she only looked at Soul as she left.

His crimson eyes were like a book with the last pages ripped out: she could read his rippling emotions like a story, but there was so much she couldn't decipher that kept her from coming to any conclusion. And after everything she _had_ seen, she was dying to figure out the rest.

_Give me a few minutes_, she mouthed to him as she and Liz fled the room.

It was almost unnerving how easily she managed to find Wes's room, considering the fact that she'd only been in the vampire's mansion for a few days now. As soon as the door to Wes's soundproof room closed behind them, Maka was on the returning end of some very curious eyebrows.

"This is the only room in the entire mansion that's Charmed to be soundproof from the rest," Maka explained. "There's another sound barrier around the whole house itself so we can talk freely as long as we're within its walls."

"You know, it doesn't really make me feel any better that these vampires have a witch on their side."

"They don't." Sitting down on the edge of Wes's plush king-sized bed, she let her head roll back and stared up at the ceiling. "The stories about the malevolent vampire queen also being a witch are true. Medusa basically spoils them with her Charms."

Liz showed off her colorful vocabulary as she dropped down on the mattress next to Maka. "And you still trust them, even when everything you know about them could be fake?"

"You trust Kilik," Maka countered.

"That's different. He's not the species we've been trained to kill all our lives."

"Neither am I, and yet you still kept secrets from me." Maka's tried not to appear hurt as she watched her friend look away guiltily. "I'm your best friend, Liz. Why didn't you tell me about Kilik? I wouldn't have cared that he was a werewolf; I would've been happy that you finally found someone who could recognize your awesome badassness for what it is."

"I know," Liz said quietly. "But what about Kid? He's not exactly the biggest fan of any supernatural and I didn't want to put you in the middle of that."

"Kid isn't that shallow." Protective, yes. Affectionate, absolutely. But so skewed that he would look down on a friend for caring about someone he didn't approve of? Definitely _not_. "How did you even meet Kilik anyways?" Maka asked.

Liz smiled sheepishly. "You know how I told you that my family isn't like most vampire-hating families? Yeah, I understated that—majorly."

Her eyes went wide. "You're not going to tell me you're a Shifter, are you?"

"My father is half-werewolf," Liz clarified, ignoring the fact that it was a rhetorical question. "My mother is human. I grew up under the care of the East-Arizona pack, but when my parents realized I was more human than Shifter, they sent me to the Academy so I could still train to hunt vampires but not in a way that was limited to those who could actually Shift."

Maka blinked, trying to mask the way her world felt like it was spinning like a merry-go-round on hyper drive. "How does no one know that you're not human?" _How could I not have noticed that my best friend wasn't who I thought she was? _she added silently.

"I don't smell like a wolf or have the Shifter gene, so it's not exactly that hard to hide," Liz pointed out. Then she bit her lip. Played with her hair. Looked at anyone but the blonde who was already starting to put together the pieces. "But the Headmaster knew about my heritage," she admitted finally. "He's the one who encouraged me to keep it a secret."

Closing her eyes, Maka imagined that in some perfect alternate universe, she didn't have to find out this way. "And of course Dad didn't think about telling me." She clenched her fists. "It wasn't Kid who told you about this place, was it? You already knew from Kilik."

"Kid _did_ contact me," Liz corrected bleakly. "He said that he knew where you were, that you were safe, that the vampire princes swore protection for you, but that he had some things to figure out before he could see you. He just didn't say where you were. But since Kilik once let it slip that he lived with the Evanses and always tried to get me to come home with him, I figured he wouldn't mind if I dropped by with another motive than to shack it up."

Hesitantly, Maka asked, "Did Kid say anything else?"

"I know he's a vampire, Maka. You don't have to tiptoe around that information."

"Kid told you?" Maka was surprised—not that Kid had admitted to a fate that shamed him, but her friend's reaction to it. "You don't care?"

"It wasn't hard to guess with the amount of self-loathing in his tone," Liz said quietly. "And it'd be kind of hypocritical to hate him for being a vampire if I'd always been part-Shifter. Werewolves hate vamps by nature… but since I've never been like my race, my blood abhorrence only goes as far as family support."

"Really?"

"You're not the only one who's only at the Academy by default, Maka." Liz smiled, but it fell quickly as she searched her friend's eyes. "Are _you_ okay with it?"

"I know what you're asking and I don't care," Maka said adamantly. "Kid is still Kid and I still love him, whether we're together or not."

"And I love you for thinking that. But you know the Council won't approve. And if the Council doesn't approve, then there's nothing keeping them from—"

"I'll figure it out," Maka interrupted, her heart clenching as she realized just how hard that would be with the colossal mess that had just been made. "Besides, I don't think it matters much anymore, seeing as I can't go back to the Academy anyway." Her words hitched slightly, betraying the nonchalance she was trying so hard to fake. The Academy may not have been a haven to her, but it was as close to a home as she'd ever had.

Liz wrapped her arms around Maka's tiny shoulders protectively as if she wanted to absorb the barely noticeable tremors that wracked through the petite blonde's body. "Oh, Maka, I so don't envy your life right now."

A surprised laugh burst free of her lips. "Okay, so you already know practically everything about my life for the past few days," Maka recounted. "What about you? How did you meet your sexy werewolf boyfriend?"

"Dad's pack has an alliance with Kilik's. At one of the gatherings when I went home for winter break—"

"So that's why you always came back smelling like wet dog!" Maka realized.

"—Kilik was bored and saw me, probably wanting to get a rise from the poor latent wolf. I shoved a stick through his shoulder and he hasn't left me alone since. End of story." Before Maka could act on her jaw-dropped mouth, Liz quickly continued, "But you don't get a 'get off the hook free' card yet. You still haven't told me what's up with the Evans brothers."

Cringing inwardly, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, Maka Albarn. You have to know the way they all stare at you like their new favorite toy they'd do anything to protect."

"Wow, I feel totally objectified." At her friend's condescending glare, Maka grinned. "They're sheltering me from Justin's grasp until we find a way to deal with a problem they won't even tell me. There's not much else to know."

"Let's pretend we're just two teenage girls squealing about a bunch of smoking hot guys. You've met a bunch and you're trying to sell them to me. What's the scoop? What are they like?"

"They're vampires!" she said with a mock-gasp. "And we're both taken."

"_I'm_ taken," Liz corrected. "_You_ are spoken for, but unless Kid makes an effort to be with you now that you're not pressured into it, I'd say you're pretty much back on the radar."

"I thought you don't trust them because they're undead."

"The reason I was acting like a bitch is because I won't trust just anyone with taking care of my best friend—vampire or otherwise. But one of the benefits of being part-Shifter is that I can smell a lie a mile away—"

Maka's eyes went wide. "Seriously?"

"It's only a bit of an exaggeration," Liz confessed. "But for centuries-old vampires, I know they aren't faking it. They obviously want to protect you for whatever unknown reasons they have, and _you_ obviously trust them to. That must mean they're done something to earn that confidence and I want to know what it is."

"Your priorities are so skewed, Liz."

"I spent the last few days recovering from the battle wounds from the other two Evanses who weren't afraid to hit a girl," the brunette said seriously. "Convince me that these brothers aren't as evil as the rest."

Maka let out an exaggerated sigh but could suppress a smile as she nudged her friend. Ever since they talked Headmaster Albarn into getting a TV for the common room at the Academy, Liz was obsessed with mirroring some of the events that occurred in the electronic world—girl talks included. Her girliness was one of the many things that set her apart from the other female Hunters.

That, and the fact that Liz Thompson never took no for an answer.

"You'll like Wes most, I think," Maka said finally, ignoring her friend's beam of triumph. "He speaks fluently with innuendoes and can't seem to think any way but dirty, but he knows how to keep a conversation rally going and is never anything but fun."

"He's the one who offered me whiskey, right?" Liz looked thoughtful. "Kilik used to tell me about him most, since he said Wes was his best friend. Somehow I pictured him less… playful. For a vampire prince."

"Didn't we all?" With an almost affectionate roll of her eyes, Maka moved onto the next brother. "Clay—the one who looks youngest around our age—is happy-go-lucky and incredibly sweet. He's very open with the feelings he thinks he has, so if you hear him confess his love to me, don't be shocked. He doesn't mean it; he's just trying to tease me."

"What about the one who can't keep his eyes off you? Mr. Sexy-Broody."

An eyebrow shot up. "Mr. Sexy-Broody? Really?"

"He's the one who you picked up at the bar, right? Harvar filled me in." A fraction of Liz's playfulness vanished as her hazel eyes. "Will you tell me what he said or did to make you trust him enough to go with him? That's the part I couldn't understand. Because every time I try to imagine someone telling you to abandon us, I picture you kicking his ass and saying there's no way in hell."

"I'm so sorry, Liz," Maka whispered. "Soul said that the only way to protect you was to leave—that Justin and Akane would only leave you guys alive if they were too busy chasing me."

"Well, he was right about that, at least. The two vampire bastards fled as soon as they realized Soul had left with you. They kept throwing your name back and forth, but I swear I never told them what it was."

"Apparently my name means something to the Evans brothers, except they won't tell me what. Did your werewolf boyfriend happen to mention that to you at all?"

"I'm as clueless as you." Liz shrugged. "But you didn't answer my question: what's up with Soul?"

Maka pushed up from the bed and crossed the room, staring at the large dresser mirror. She was the same blond-haired, green-eyed girl who seemed to do more harm than good. "What do you mean?"

"He seems like he always has a stick up his ass. I get that Wes and Clay don't seem to give a damn about anything because of how they're wired, how they were raised with such power under Medusa's reign, but Soul Evans doesn't seem to enjoy any of their privileges at all. It's as if he's always pessimistic and—"

"You're wrong," Maka said automatically, then frowned. "I mean, you pretty much nailed Wes and Clay, but Soul isn't dark and broody. Well, he _is_ kind of broody and has a dark past and can be overly serious at times in a way that makes you want to throw a water balloon at his head just so he'll react, and he does have a temper sometimes, but it's probably justified with me as you probably know—"

"Breathing isn't overrated, Maka," Liz interrupted, looking like she was holding back a laugh. "You might want to try it."

She inhaled deeply as per request. "Despite the tortured bad boy effect he has going on, he's _so_ sweet, Liz. I could have a rallied conversation with him for hours. And—" Maka hesitated, quickly debating whether or not to reveal Soul's Hunter secret, then finished lamely, "I think you'd find him funny, too."

The brunette's eyebrows were raised to her hairline. "At least I know who the favorite brother is."

Maka shook her head as if to say _it's not like that_. But the truth was that she was only scared to admit it out loud. "Is Harvar back at the Academy?"

Liz snorted as if the idea was completely ridiculous. "Your dad would've murdered us for returning with only half our original team, but even then, there was no way we were going to go back without knowing you and Kid were okay. I stuck Harv with the task of babysitting your poor mortal-bound Prince Charming. He woke up from his coma before we could get away and insisted on coming with us. We haven't been able to shake him since."

It took a moment for her to process that. "_Hiro_ is still with you guys?"

Suddenly it all clicked into place. When Soul's sources had confirmed that three Hunters were on the move together, they hadn't been talking about Liz, Harvar, and Kid. Who they saw must have been Liz, Harvar, and _Hiro_. Maka knew the human boy looked nothing like Kid, but to those who didn't know them, two tall male Hunters would be impossible to tell apart.

But after what happened, why would he want to tag along with Liz and Harvar?

"He claims he trained himself to hunt vampires after his family was murdered by them, but he's never met any true Hunters like us before. He wants in."

"Dad would never allow it."

"Try telling Hiro that," Liz said dryly. "You really know how to pick them, don't you? You are allegedly dating an overprotective vampire-hating vampire, whipped a vampire prince, and made out with a wannabe vampire hunter. Got anything against normal, Maka?"

"Wow, you're making my life sound like one messed up love rectangle."

Liz pulled out her cell phone and started to dial. "Okay, so I'm going to call Harvar to let him know we're okay. Then I'm going to come up with a plan to get your new vampire protection team to let you go tomorrow."

"Not tonight?" Maka asked, surprised—and shamefully relieved.

An eyebrow rose. "I haven't seen Kilik in weeks and I have Shifter hormones ingrained in my DNA. Can't a girl be selfish for one night?"

* * *

Her scream sliced through the air like a knife. Nothing had ever torn Soul out of bed that quickly before; it was unlike anything he'd ever heard. So loud, so terrified, so totally and completely soul-stealing… It was the kind of scream you only heard in horror movies because they seemed too frightened to be real.

_Maka_.

In the split second after it took him to recognize the scream, Soul was at the door of her guest room, shoving inside so vehemently that he nearly ripped the door from its hinges. His eyes zeroed in on her form instantly. She was curled up in the corner, head buried against her knees, looking so tiny and terrified that he was almost afraid to approach her.

A choked sob ripped from her lips and that was all it took. Soul crossed the room in a heartbeat, kneeling down in front of her with nothing but petrified concern. "Maka—"

"NO!" she screamed, her arm striking out so wildly that his fast instincts nearly didn't catch it in time. "I don't know what you want but I know I don't have it! Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone…" She trailed off with another sob.

He held her wrists together with one hand and touched her face gently with the other. "Maka, it's me. Soul. Whatever you were seeing was just a nightmare, but it's over now. You can come back." When she continued to struggle, just a little weaker, he tightened his grip on her and whispered, "_Maka_. Come back to me."

Her struggles grew weaker until they eventually stopped. Maka opened her eyes slowly, fluttering as if she was still fighting unconsciousness. It felt like forever before he could finally see the full green of her irises reflecting the bright hallway lights spilling into the darkness. "Soul?"

"Of course it's me. Maka? _Maka_!" He shook her not so gently when her eyes glazed over and fell shut once more.

"Maka!" Liz yelled from behind them.

Suddenly he was shoved away from Maka as Liz pushed between them and threw her arms around the blonde's neck. His first instinct was to growl but he held it back, watching as Maka reacted to her friend in a way she'd been reluctant to react to him: her heart opened up. The tears came fast down her cheeks; she closed her eyes as if it would help her hide them, but it only made the crystalline droplets fall faster.

"I can't," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

"Shhhh," Liz soothed, her voice a million times softer than Soul thought possible. "It's okay, baby girl. I've got you, and I promise I won't let anyone hurt you."

Maka's entire body shook in her friend's comforting embrace. A fierce stab of jealousy hit Soul. He dismissed the irrational emotion as soon as it surfaced, but he couldn't stop himself from reaching out, brushing Maka's face with his fingers, despite the dirty look of protective love Liz gave him as she pulled the blonde away.

"What's going on?" demanded Wes, appearing at the doorway. Clay and Kilik were right behind him, the latter shirtless and rubbing his eyes as if he'd just woken up from a long night.

"Get the hell out of here," Liz hissed. She pulled Maka's body deeper into her embrace as if to shield her from their eyes. "She doesn't need all of you standing here while she recovers from her nightmares. All of you, out right now!"

Wes and Clay looked ready to protest but Soul gave them a look that said _go_. He jerked his chin to emphasize it. Both brothers clenched their jaws, immensely displeased by how Liz was commanding them, but Soul knew they wouldn't argue with him.

After a quick exchange of glances, the two Evanses disappeared.

"Babe—" Kilik started to say, but Liz cut him off.

"You too, Kil. I'm going to stay with Maka." Once her werewolf boyfriend was gone, she turned to glare at Soul, who still hadn't moved. "Just because you stare at her with puppy dog eyes doesn't mean you get to be the exception."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Her eyes narrowed at the challenge in his voice. "She won't want you to see her like this. Maka may look like she's awake, but she doesn't physically pull out of this state until a few minutes after her nightmares have ended. She won't be able to recognize you. And when she does—"

"She said my name before," he interjected. "When I first found her. I think that means she's more aware than you think."

Surprise flickered across Liz's face. For the first time, Soul noticed she was wearing nothing but a large male's T-shirt—and considering how she was staying in Kilik's room, it didn't take an idiot to guess. They hadn't exactly been quiet, either, but Soul tried his best to give them the courtesy they deserved. Being covert wasn't exactly possible in a house full of vampires.

"I'm not going anywhere," he repeated.

They were silent for a few moments as Maka's breathy sobs became quieter and quieter. Gently stroking her hair, Liz seemed to know exactly how to breathe to soothe the blonde's tremors, words going unneeded. How many times had she done this before? How could Liz handle seeing Maka like this more than once?

"What's wrong with her?" Soul asked in a tormented voice. Maka wouldn't stop trembling.

Liz didn't glance up as she answered. "Maka suffers from a type of parasomnia. Night terrors. Severe ones. She doesn't like to talk about them, but I think she's always had them even long before she met me. That's why she only sleeps when she absolutely has to. When was the last time she's slept?"

"Last night. I made her take a nap."

"Did she scream?"

He frowned. "No."

"Then she faked it," Liz said simply. "Maka does that a lot, when she thinks it will help people stop worrying about her. The only way you can tell the difference is the fact that she _always_ has nightmares whenever she falls asleep. Every. Single. Time."

Cursing, Soul pulled his hand back only to hide the way his fingers curled into a tight fist. "Is there any way to stop it? To help her? To protect her?"

"If there was, don't you think I would've found it by now? I love Maka like my own sister and it _kills_ me to see her like this. It kills me even more that she's embarrassed by it, when none of it is her fault. But when she won't ever tell me what she dreams about, there's nothing I can do but comfort her when she wakes up."

"Let me hold her." The words slipped out of his mouth before they passed through his mind. Soul couldn't think about anything else. It was like a physical need to want to grasp Maka in his arms, promise her that he wouldn't let anything touch her, and calm her trembling body. Seeing the beautiful, vibrant, and fun girl in such a terrified state… It made him ache in places he thought had gone dormant when he was turned.

Liz leveled him with an unreadable stare. "She has a boyfriend."

He didn't blink. "I know."

"You don't know anything about her."

"That's debatable."

"I don't trust you."

"And I don't blame you," he responded, "but I honestly don't give a damn as long as Maka _does_."

A brief smile crossed the brunette's lips. She waited a moment longer, as if contemplating her next move carefully, before she held her arms out slightly away from her. Soul wasted no time scooping Maka up from her and cradling her to his chest as gently as he could.

"I'm going to go throw on some pants," Liz announced, standing up while tugging Kilik's huge shirt down past her knees. "I'll be back in a minute so make it count." She was already halfway out the door, her hand poised on the frame, when she paused. "When Maka wakes up, don't let her pull away. She'll try but you can't let her do that to herself."

Soul didn't even bother to look up as the dark-haired girl left. All he could see was Maka. God, she was just so _small_. It was easy to forget her tininess when she was awake because her vibrancy and confidence seemed to fill the entire room. But now…

Her eyelids fluttered. Tensing in anticipation, Soul brushed his thumb over her cheek and gave her body a gentle squeeze. "Maka?"

Another flutter. Then her eyebrows pulled together as she worked up the energy to open her eyes, allowing Soul to see her brilliant green irises again. Even muddled with fatigue and stress, Maka hands-down had the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen.

Breathing out a deep sigh of relief, Soul offered her a timid smile. "Hey, Maka. Welcome back to the land of the living."

Once the post-wake confusion passed, he felt her entire body stiffen in his arms. The darkness did nothing to hide her blush; he could feel the warmth radiating off her like a space heater on its hottest setting. Averting her gaze, she practically rolled out of his grasp and scrambled to her feet, aiming to get as far away from him as possible.

"Hey." He placed a hand on her arm before she could get far. "Don't run from me."

"Did I scream?" When he didn't answer, she clenched her fists as if she was in pain. "I'm sorry. I knew it was going to happen so I tried to stay awake."

"Maka—"

"You don't have to tell me it's out of my control," she cut him off, still refusing to look at him. "I hear that enough from Liz."

"Don't," Soul said fiercely. He grasped her chin in his hands and made her look at him. "You're beautiful and you're bright and you're incredibly badass for someone so small; you put up with me and my brothers even though we'd probably drive most people insane. But you are _not_ the kind of girl who beats herself up over something like this. You're stronger than that. So don't apologize for something you know isn't your fault."

Maka blinked, then stared, then blinked again until a small laugh finally revealed itself. "You really don't know how to comfort a girl in panic, do you?"

"Does that mean you're done with the self-deprecation?"

He didn't miss the way she turned away to hide a troubled frown. "Soul, I—I'm going to leave. Tomorrow. I can't stay here."

"Wait a second," he protested. "All of this because you have nightmares?"

"Not just that," she insisted. "Don't you get it? I'm hiding from Justin for reasons I don't even understand—for reasons you refuse to tell me. I really do trust you, Soul—more than I probably should—but I can't hand my life over to you and not do anything for myself." She swallowed. "And I need to find Kid, too. There's so much we haven't said yet. So much we need to figure out."

The worst part was that it was her admission of needing to talk to her boyfriend that stung Soul the most. "It's not safe—"

"You just told me how capable I am," she reminded him. "Don't turn around and twist that so it fits your needs."

Why did she have to be so damn practical? The thought of Maka leaving the mansion drowned him, smothered him, made him want to rip his fucking heart out even though it wasn't even there. He wanted her to stay by his side more than he wished he could be human again. The ferocity of his desperation terrified him, but his rationality was shot.

And his mouth was already running off.

"You were always meant to be a vampire," Soul gritted out after a brief stretch of silence. At her shocked expression, he gave a dark smile. "You wanted to know why Justin wants you? Why I'm bound to protect you? Well, here it is: you were born with Medusa's blood in your veins so you could become one of her own personal vampire toys. And I was assigned to never let that happen."

* * *

The others met her and Soul in the living room.

When Maka thought about it, the variety of people in the room rivaled the mix at the tournament: three Evans brothers, a werewolf beta, a latent quarter-Shifter, and _her_. The girl who, according to Soul, wasn't as human as she thought she was.

"Did you know?" Maka asked Liz, still trying to wrap her mind around everything she'd just learned.

The brunette shook her head. "Kilik mentioned once that Soul was bound to protect one of Medusa's experiments, but I _never_ would've guessed it was you. I would've told you if I did. But I already knew Soul used to live in the Academy."

"Soul didn't tell us he was a Hunter until about a century ago," Clay piped up, turning the pillow over in his hand again and again. Ever since they called him down to join the revealing parade, his sweetly sympathetic gaze never lifted off Maka. "And he was only assigned to watch over you in particular just before you were born. Don't get angry at him for just doing his job."

"I'm not angry."

"Then what are you?"

"I… don't know," she said, furrowing her brows as she lifted her gaze from her hands. "Soul, what am I?"

"Medusa didn't give birth to you, if that's what you're thinking; vampires are as infertile as the stories say." Soul took a deep breath. "She adopted your mother along with nine other women from group homes all over the country when they were infants. She raised them, trained them to believe they owed everything to her… and then she paired them with men of her choice."

"Oh, _hell_ no," said Liz.

"The women were willing," Soul added quickly. "More than willing, actually. They all wanted the dominant bad boy figures that are featured in movies, and Medusa delivered. She's devious, not callous. But it didn't take long for them to get pregnant."

"Don't hate her for that, though," Clay interjected with a hint of defensiveness. "Medusa has been experimenting on everything for years: spells, blood transfusions, cross-breeding—you name it. She's almost as obsessed with it as she is with her immortality. All she wanted to do was see if she could create a vampire line that had no choice but to obey her every command. Her mind… It's skewed, but she has good intentions."

Liz threw up her hands. "Kilik says you guys want Medusa off the throne, but you keep defending her! How is that supposed to work?"

"It's more complicated than that. Haven't you ever met a good person whose views were just a little skewed? Would you kill a mental man just because he didn't have the sense not to commit a crime?"

"Are you saying Medusa is crazy?"

Wes shook his head. "Not crazy, but we believe Medusa had some sort of compulsive disorder before she was turned. Her obsessions… They can be incorrigible. She's very systematic, and vampirism has only amplified her desires. Along with her necessity for routine, Medusa _needs_ to be able to control everything. Including death."

"Are you saying she gets a free pass because she's not exactly right in the mind?" Liz demanded. "Does that justify all the people she's hurt? All the experiments she's done?"

"We may not agree with her decisions but she's still our creator," said Clay quietly. "Things only got worse after Asura died. A lot of what she's done, she's done because she fears losing _us_."

_Asura Evans_. The name was impossible to forget considering he was the only Evans to ever be defeated. Maka was never sure of the details—information like that seldom reached her in the Academy—but even her secluded self heard of how Medusa had torn the assailants to shreds in a wild fit of rage, hanging them for the world to see along with the bodies of every friend and family member the offenders had.

The rumors were that Medusa had been in love with that particular Evans and that was why she reacted so harshly, but now Clay's defensiveness of their creator made Maka wonder if that was simply her motherly love for them all.

"I already told you that vampirism only amplifies everything you're feeling inside," Soul reminded her. "It makes it hard to keep our heads on straight sometimes. It only takes one vampire rampage to decimate an entire city."

Sensing that whatever he said next was going to change things, Maka exhaled deeply. "What happened to my mother?"

"Medusa made the women drink her enchanted blood every single day when they were pregnant. It had a different effect on most of them. Four of the women had miscarriages, three died outright from not being able to stomach the blood—and since that's the way vampires are created, Medusa got rid of them as soon as they turned. She's very strict on who she calls her children; she won't turn just anyone."

That was one of the few vampire facts Maka had always been certain of: the transition consisted of dying with vampire blood in their system, which resulted in waking up as one of the undead. It was scary how simple it was.

"The two other women managed to give birth but died while doing so, and their infants didn't even live for long," Soul continued. "The vampire blood in their systems somehow corrupted the children and they had to be put down. But _you_ survived, Maka. Out of all ten experimental children, you're the only one who didn't die."

"What happened to my mother? My father?" Maka asked in a whisper. But she knew the answer before the words came out of Soul's mouth.

"They died. I'm sorry." His expression was genuinely regretful. "Medusa's obsessions with routine are the only things that prevented her from trying the experiment twice. She never repeats a failure; her inner mother can only handle so much torment, and being unsuccessful kills her enough the first time around. She moved onto other projects."

Not even Liz had a retort for that.

"Once I informed the Academy about her project—as is my purpose—they told me to take you away from Medusa. So I replaced you with another dying infant and made her believe that you'd died along with the rest of them. Since her routine only allowed her to monitor the project from afar while others took care of it, she didn't know the difference. Didn't question it.

"Albarn agreed to take you in as his own in the Academy, against the Council's wishes. The other Officials wanted to destroy any possibility that Medusa could find out about you, but your adoptive father believed that—since you were born from Medusa's blood—you'd be one of the only things that could harm her. Not even us Evanses can."

Maka blinked. "You can't hurt her?"

Wes shrugged. "We may be stronger than other vamps, but we still follow the same restrictions. And it's physically impossible for a vampire to kill the vamp who sired him—no matter how much we try."

"It's been a while since I've checked in with the Council—it's not as easy to slip in and out unnoticed as you'd think—but Spirit Albarn specifically told me that if I ever heard of any threats to your safety from outside the Academy, I was to get rid of them. I can't let you be turned and I need to keep you from Medusa's grasp. For the past sixteen years, my only mission was to protect _you_." Soul's expression was fierce. "Now do you understand why I can't let anything happen to you?"

"So what are you saying?" Maka wanted to know. "Medusa doesn't know I'm alive but somehow you guys and Justin do? Does anyone else?"

Wes shrugged, suppressing a grin. "Nah, you're kind of a big deal, Maka. It made Clay and I seriously honored to be in the loop."

She rolled her eyes. "One day, I'm going to smack you silly until you're serious."

"Do I get a kiss first? It's way more fun to make out when you're absolutely wild."

Two milliseconds later, a flying pillow knocked Wes to the ground and Soul wore a perfectly innocent face as he continued explaining the situation. "Justin only figured out who you were at the club. A vampire's sense of smell isn't much stronger than a human's, but Justin's always had Shifter's nose. He recognized your mixed scent and must've put the pieces together from the way I reacted. It's a wonder he hasn't told Medusa yet."

"Not crooked like a Shifter's, just strong," Clay clarified.

"Hey, my nose isn't crooked!" Kilik protested.

Liz gave it a quick, sympathetic kiss. "Your nose looks great, babe. You know, considering the fact that it breaks every time you Shift."

"What's going to happen when Medusa realizes who I am?" Maka asked.

Clay scratched his head, appearing thoughtful. "She'll probably go wild; break a lamp or two—maybe even a house. She'll definitely send an army or some soldiers to retrieve you and Soul probably won't get out alive." At her horrified look, he laughed. "Don't worry, Maka, we'll handle it. I know Medusa better than anyone and I think I can take care of her wrath."

"I'm starting to think that Medusa isn't the only unstable one," she muttered, burying her face in her hands. "God, this is all so screwed up."

The sound of shuffling filled her ears. Something touched her shoulder lightly like a comforting reassurance. By the time Maka looked up, peeking out from between her fingers, everyone was gone.

Her hands dropped in alarm. "Where did everyone go?"

"I kicked them out." Soul kneeled down in front of her, his expression almost reticent as he cupped her face in his palm.

"What? Why?" And _how_? They evacuated the room faster than if the room had been cast on fire.

"They left so I could do this," he whispered as he sealed his mouth over hers.

Maka was so shocked that she could only sit there at first, but as he deepened the kiss and brushed fire down her arms, she melted into him. Her lips parted as she moaned and he took full advantage, plunging his tongue into her mouth at the same time his hands crushed her body to his. Their bodies merged with the force of two powerful magnets of opposite charge; their tongues tangled, touched, and mingled with their breaths as they struggled to be as much a part of each other as physically possible.

Despite the rational part of her brain screaming that this wasn't the time for small affections, but her body was stronger. Her _heart_ was stronger—although she'd argue later that it was her hormones that possessed her.

When she regained her resolve, she pushed him away and tried to look reprimanding. "_Soul_."

An unabashed smile curved his lips. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I've been dreaming about kissing you again since the last time we stopped."

"I can't—"

"I know. But that doesn't mean you can't humor a horny vampire with a kiss, right?"

God, how could he always make her laugh at the most inappropriate times? "Why didn't you tell me about my heritage before?"

Soul raised an eyebrow. "When? Before or after we made out in the club? Maybe after I kidnapped you and forced you to stay in my vampire brother's werewolf-guarded mansion? Or did you want me to wait until after you attended your first paranormal tournament and found out your ex-boyfriend was a vampire?"

Maka paused. "Our lives sound so much more screwed up every time I think about it."

"I didn't tell you because I was hoping I could talk Justin out of it, but—"

"You talked to Justin?!"

"Yesterday," answered Soul. "When you and your friend spent hours holed up in Wes's room, I left to try and negotiate peace with my brother. We may be on opposite sides, but I thought that all my time with him would've at least mattered. Apparently he's only biding his time to an attack. Justin told us to be ready."

At a loss for words, Maka pushed Soul back a few inches so she could study his face. "Wait, does he know where we are?" She gasped when Soul nodded. "Then why hasn't he attacked yet? And why did we try so hard to keep our location a secret on the way here if he was just going to find us anyways?"

"Like I said before, Justin isn't the type who likes to lose; he only makes a move when he's certain he'll win in the end. And Wes's house was like our safe checkpoint: Justin wouldn't have thought twice about intercepting us on our way here, but now that we're on lycanthrope territory and have the support of my brothers…"

He _had_ to think twice. Even Maka saw the logic in that. "Do you know what he's planning?"

Shaking his head, Soul said, "I wish more than anything that he'd just leave this alone, but he liked your spunk at the club. He wants to see how far he can push you before you break. But I won't let him, Maka. He may have ruled out the possibility of returning you to the Academy, but that doesn't mean we won't do everything to keep you safe. I have a plan; I promise he won't touch you."

"Because it's your purpose?" she wanted to know.

He tucked a strand of her blond hair back behind her ear and broke the serious mood with a sly grin. "Because I'm having way too much fun with you here for you to leave just yet, Maka Albarn. I want you to stick around."

Rolling her eyes, Maka suppressed a smile as she started to stand but Soul held her in place.

"Are you angry I didn't tell you before?"

"Well…" Maka pretended to think about it, prompting Soul to make a sound of protest. She laughed and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, causing his red eyes to widen exponentially. "Nah, it's not like you're the only one who has your secrets." She nibbled on her bottom lip. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Don't do that," he said darkly.

"What?"

"Don't bite your lip. It makes me want to kiss you even more."

She released her lip in surprise. "Umm, I have a request. You up for it?"

"Why do I have a feeling it involves blood and gore?"


End file.
